Armored Titan
by lukaholiday977
Summary: Taken away young, experimented throughout his childhood, now finally free after so long...but its all different nothing is the same. He now seeks to find his mother, confront his father, find a place to belong and perhaps find somthing more... Adopted fic from Iskander Mandoraekon hope you enjoy...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Normal talk"

" _Thought_ "

" ** _Hologram & communicator"_**

Okay, here's the deal. I took over this story as I thought it had a lot of potential. While I am sad that the writer had to give it up, I will try to make the story as good as he did, but I will be adding some of my own elements so that the tale can truly become what it was meant to be.

And if you're afraid that I'm going to stop writing _the Dark Side Fox_ …don't be. I will still be continuing that, but this will also come up every once in a while. Now, some things I would like to say about this story: the paring will remain unknown for now, and there will be some minor changes made to the origin, but not too much. I hope you enjoy it.

 **INDEPENDENCE DAY IN ITS FULLEST MEANING**

 **Location:** **New York City, New York**

 **December 12, 2002**

The downpour of rain slapped noisily against the window of the small house. A young, blond haired boy of seven years frowned as he watched the rain fall. His hair slumped on his head and his sky blue eyes were half lidded. He was wearing an orange T-shirt with a red swirl on the front, and black cargo shorts. He tapped the glass, annoyed at the weather, having wanted to play, but it just wasn't to be with this rain.

"Boy, this sucks!" The young child pouted as he crossed his arms. He sighed and looked around his room, toys strewn all over the floor. "Aw, Kaa-chan told me to tidy up!" he moaned, not wanting to do the bane of childhood.

 _I'll do it later,_ he thought. He sat on his floor, his tiny hand rubbing his chin. _What should I play with?_

His hand floated over the toys littering his floor, and his hand grasped a toy sword, grinning. Swords were _so_ cool. He gave it a few tentative swings, but winced in pain when he stepped on something. Looking at his foot, there was a construction block pressed into it. He plopped himself down and pulled it off. His blue eyes drifted off to the window once more. He watched the pitter patter of the falling rain.

It was so annoying! He wanted to go out and play! Puffing his cheeks out in annoyance, he crossed his arms. He sat still for a moment, before he hastily uncrossed his arms and stood up. He could never stay still for very long, something he could blame on his Uzumaki heritage.

He looked around his room for something to do, and his eyes lit up when he saw a story book that was lying, spine-up, in the middle of the room. He walked to it and looked at the cover. _'Lost…'_ he read in his mind, struggling to get the words right. He turned it over to read the words on the back of it that told him the story before reading the actual book.

"Obito... something… is a happy little boy with a loving family. One day, he goes on an ad…ad-ven-ture into the m… mou… ountains behind his home with his friends, Rin and Kakashi, but he quickl… ly gets lost! How will he find his way home?" Naruto snorted, throwing the book off somewhere else. That was so stupid.

Who would ever get lost?

 **Location: Secret Base in the Himalayas**

Vandal Savage was a tall, muscular man with a medium-tanned skin tone and strong, rugged features, a man with broad shoulders and a square jaw. His face was marked by three pale scars in the formation of claws, his eyes were brown and his long black hair was pulled back. Savage wore a long lapel-less dark blue coat, fringed by a red stripe. He also donned black gloves and boots.

His eyes were calculating as he looked at the two League of Shadows assassins before him.

"So, you're saying that the Shadows haven't given up on obtaining the Yellow Flash's DNA for Project Cadmus?" he asked in his deep, gravelly voice, as he looked from the young girl of eleven, wearing a dark green battle-kimono with a Cheshire cat mask, to her father, a man wearing body armor and a hockey mask, who was known as one of the League of Shadows' top assassins.

"Yes, even though we failed to obtain the DNA of the Hero Yellow Flash, we have not given up," Sportsmaster said, his face calculating and furtive as he stared up at the leader of the Light.

"That's all well and nice, but he is the only one with the power we seek, and he is not an easy target to capture," Vandal countered, glaring at the two in front of him. Sportsmaster had been the one to fail that mission, even though he'd had the help of two squads of Shadows, and the Parasite.

"Yes, but what if he had a child?" Sportsmaster asked as he watched Vandal's face stay in the same neutral position. "The legacy of the Yellow Flash. His son, and soon enough, his daughter."

"What!?" Vandal exclaimed in shock and he leaned towards the two.

"Exactly as you heard. I have found out from a source that the Yellow Flash has a pregnant wife named Kushina Uzumaki, and a son named Naruto, even though he left them seven months ago; I'm guessing it was because he feared we might find out who his family is." Sportsmaster smirked behind his mask. "We can obtain Yellow Flash's DNA from the boy, and perhaps replicate his teleportation and energy powers that way; we can also use the kid in the experiments with that giant creature that came through the Boom tube experiments."

Vandal Savage leaned back in his chair, a grin spreading across his scarred face.

"Very well, I want you and Cheshire to obtain the boy and bring him back to Cadmus, so that we can begin the experimentation."

 **Location: Uzumaki Residence**

"Naru-chan!"

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze recognized his mother call his name all too well. The blonde groaned, he _hated_ being called Naru-chan! He was _seven years old!_ A big boy!

Well, he tried to convince himself that that he hated it, but the truth was that in his heart of hearts, he secretly loved it. He rushed down the stairs in a mad flurry, taking tem two or three at a time, and without noticing, barreled into a leg. Falling onto his rear, he looked up and saw his seven months pregnant mother, Kushina Uzumaki.

Kushina was an Irish-Japanese woman with a slender, but feminine build, fair skin, royal violet eyes and the fiery red hair that was the marking point of an Uzumaki, with strands that framed both sides of her face, and a black clip that parted her hair to the left, keeping it out of her eyes. She was wearing her usual outfit consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress. She was also wearing a blue wristband on her left wrist and lavender house sandals.

"What have I told you about running in the house, Naru-chan?" Kushina said with a sigh as she tried to scold the child, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it when she saw the indignant pout on his face. Naruto was just her adorable little weakness.

"K-Kaa-chan…!" Naruto stuttered.

"Well, you're here now. It's dinnertime! Dattebane!" the red haired woman exclaimed happily.

Before anything else could be said, Naruto sniffed the air for a second and his face lit up.

"RAMEN!" he screamed happily, rushing away to wash up in order to feed his addiction. A massive grin threatened to split his face. His mother's homemade Ramen always made up for any bad weather or mood.

Kushina smiled at her firstborn as he ran to the table, noticing for the ump-teenth time how he looked like his ramen loving father… She shook her head to get rid of the thought of her unfaithful husband, who had up and disappeared over seven and a half months ago after she'd caught him cheating on her with her best friend, Mikoto Uchiha, and his company's intern, an eighteen year old intern named Kurenai Yuhi.

After dinner, Naruto sat on his bed, staring up at the rare starlit sky that he would usually watch with his mother… or his father, before the bastard had left him and his mom by themselves.

He hated the man named Minato Namikaze for that, even going so far as dropping his father's name and taking up his mother's maiden name, Uzumaki. He even knew why the man left them. Naruto had been the one to walk into his parents' room and caught the older male humping away at the nude, moaning body of his company's intern, and he remembered how his mother had exploded when she'd come to see why Naruto was frozen in the doorway.

He got up from his bed and walked over to his door to go see if his mother wanted to join him stargazing.

Just as he was about to touch the doorknob, a hand chopped down hard on the back of his neck, and Naruto fell into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness as his body hit the floor with a heavy thud.

 **Location: Cadmus, Director's Office**

Dr. Mark Desmond paced back and forth in one of the upper levels of the Cadmus main Laboratories, which had compounds all over the world. He had worked for the company for ten odd years to serve a greater purpose, to serve the Light. That allowed him all of the research material that he needed to make weapons for the Light, ranging from normal Genomorphs to clones of Superman that would be used to take down the Kryptonian, should he stop being a hero.

Desmond sighed contentedly as he looked down at the file that he had in his hands. He didn't really care whether it was a baby, toddler, adult or crippled old person, he'd experiment on it for the sake of his all-consuming science.

 _ **PROJECT:**_ _ARMORED TITAN_

 **Data log entry no.1, date: December 14, 2002**

 _The higher ups in the Light have finally decided to do something useful about our 'heroes' always saving the day. Thankfully, due to the nation's finest, we have enough money to build an army, but the Light wants less expenses to prevent our activities being traced by our enemies, so of course we come to what is best and much more economical for them: the one man army._

 _Sportsmaster and his daughter have brought in the child of the Hero Yellow Flash, enabling us to take the hero's DNA from the boy and then place him in the experimental project for that abomination that fell through the "boom tube" a year ago._

 _So, who would the unfortunate soul that I'd get to experiment on be, but the child of one of our 'heroes' the League of Shadows found, after the hero managed to evade them? The boy is some seven year old, a Irish-Japanese kid who will be arriving shortly after I finish writing this log. The Shadows have informed me that they have already prepped the child for the Experiment, though I doubt Ra's Al Ghul knows about this, given his feelings on the matter of experimentation on children. Well, at least it will save me the trouble of going through a personal examination, though now that I've thought about it, it is more fun doing so personally._

 **Data log entry no.2, date: December 21, 2002**

 _Subject is surprisingly very strong, both physically and emotionally, significantly above a statistically average seven year old. It seems as if he's developed his own meta-human genes from his father, yet they have developed differently. It would appear that he has developed a healing factor, and while it is not at the level of like someone like Doomsday or Slade Wilson (aka Death stroke, the Terminator) it shows promise and could provide a gateway into discovering a way to allow the humans to heal even wounds that would normally kill them._

 _And even if we fail to produce the desired results, it might be fun to experiment on someone who will be able to take all these painful experiments without long intervals for rest and recuperation._

 _Still, I am reluctant to work on his "programming", so to speak, as the mind is a fragile thing, and tampering with it could lead to the subject going haywire and becoming nothing more than a mindless animal. A weapon is only as good as the uses it has. While a tool of destruction can be useful, they lack the needed mind capacity to do the more delicate maters that missions inevitably require._

 **Data log entry no.3, date: December 28, 2002**

 _Subject's name is_ _Naruto Uzumaki aka_ _ **Sentinel**_ _, and so far he's himself shown to be quite useful, though in the need of some polishing. He knows basic hand to hand combat, most likely taught to him by his mother, from the records we pilfered from his school and doctors, but he lacks discipline, like so many children his age. However, while any of his peers, even with his level of combat ability, would certainly parish in some of the scenarios we have run him through, our_ _Subject has demonstrated a remarkable knack at avoiding death. He constantly compensates with his resourcefulness and unpredictable, if not downright crazy, yet genius tactics that he seems to pull out of nowhere. It seems that he has a strong life force that his mother's family has been known for over the centuries._

 _We have the Genomorphs regularly increasing his overall knowledge of the fighting styles that we think will fit him the best. We believe that, with the help of our experiments and drugs, we have been able to awaken his battlefield awareness, allowing him to be aware of everything that is going on around him. The Subject is able to sense attacks even when he is unable to see or hear them. However, problems arise when a opponent is either too fast or too strong for the Subject to react to, and then his defenses are shattered, leaving him wide open._

 _We shall continue to test his abilities and preparing for the second phase of the experiments. We have great hopes that he can be turned into an even better weapon for the Light._

 **Data log entry no.4, date: January 31, 2003**

 _It has been quite a long time since my last log entry._

 _It seems that I have gotten sidetracked by my other projects. Recently, the Subject was ordered to kill some Genomorphs, but instead of complying with the order, he just defeated them and started to leave. This angered the heads of the Mental Augmentation Branch of Cadmus, as they had thought that it was impossible to resist their treatments._

 _I, however, knew what had happened. In a previous experiment, I had tried to increase his mental capacity, which worked to some degree, but the problem occrued when we brought in some new G-Gnomes to replace the old ones, as they were getting too attached to the Subject._

 _As we removed the old ones and put in their replacements, we noticed something: the new ones could not penetrate his mind. It seems that he had developed some sort of mental shield which could not be broken by simple G-Gnomes we had at hand, and since the mental department also uses G-Gnomes as part of their standard practice, they could do nothing to break through the mental shield, and thus no mental programming could take place._

 _As for his physical abilities, progress continues. We have been able to make him stronger than before, and he now possesses the strength and endurance of a fully grown human – however, I believe he has yet to reach his peak, and am confident that we can continue to make great strides in this area. We have also been able to improve his healing factor, and he is now able to heal wounds that would not be fatal in a couple of minutes – however, more complicated self-repair would still take considerable time, and require assistance from a medical staff._

 _In his tests, he was able to defeat a squad of 30 G-Elves, sustaining only minor injuries that were take care of by his healing factor. Still, it appears that my superiors are not satisfied with my results, as they feel that leaving the weapon to have the ability to choose what it does in certain scenarios would make more likely to rebel; however, I see it in a different light._

 _While the weapon would be useful with no conscience, it would also be a hamper on any missions that would need for the weapon to make his own choices without explicit instruction from HQ, and given the nature of the work the Subject will likely be given, he must be able to operate autonomously even if he loses his connection with his superiors. Without the ability to operate alone, he would be a huge risk, for not only we could lose the weapon, but by requiring a permanent connection, we would also be making it possible to trace the Subject back to the Light._

 **Data log entry no.289, date: October 17, 2009:**

 _Subject has now spent several years here in Cadmus. He has exhibited tremendous will-power as he continues to keep up his moral code in the face of our specialists, who continue to try and break him out of these habits._

 _While others believe differently, I know that he will be a perfect soldier for the Light. We have been able to increase his abilities to the level that we need to proceed with the original purpose of this project. With his healing factor strong enough to re-grow lost limbs if given enough time, we estimate that he has a high likelihood of surviving the planned procedures. Starting tomorrow, we shall begin grafting the DNA of the creature we recovered, but the risk accrues, as we will have to momentarily block his healing factor so that it does not simply purge the body of invasive DNA, rendering the entire exercise pointless._

 _We need this experiment to succeed, as we were only able to save some DNA from the creature, as it dissolved in mere minutes after we had collected it. The sample was kept under ice to prevent it from decomposing, thus preventing us from creating more samples. If this does not work, we will either scrap the project or move on to different testing possibilities, but I believe it will be the former of the two._

 **Data log entry no.293, date: November 7, 2009:**

 _The experiment has succeeded, despite it having some flaws. The Subject is able to create its own unique form; he is able to form a body that is 15 meters (49ft2in) tall, with hardened plates covering the entirety of his skin, except for the muscles in his cheeks that become exposed when he opens his jaw, as well as the muscle tissue behind his knees, elbows and feet. He also seems to have a small opening between the armored plates in the area of his neck, just large enough for a human to get through. While fighting, despite his seemingly heavy weight, he displays a high degree of agility and is capable of building up considerable momentum. Once he begins moving, there are very few thing that can stop him, thus making it very hard for our G-Troll Genomorphs to subdue him when he went on a rampage in the arena and labs, destroying a lot of very expensive equipment._

 _We were ultimately forced to deploy subjects Match and Project Kr to subdue him, however, even they experienced difficulty in bringing the Subject down, as they were being constantly swatted aside by the Titan's huge arms. It appeared that nothing short of powerhouses such as Superman, Doomsday, Martian Manhunter or Wonder Woman would be able to break through the plating that covered his body._

 _Finally, Match and Kr were able to draw him into a prepared room, where we were able to gas the chamber and knock out the entire group._

 _Another interesting thing that we discovered is that, once reverted back to his original form, the plates are able stay on his body, and he can continue to use them as protection. The plates are able to recede back into his body, thus allowing him the appearance of a normal human. His healing factor has also gained another boost, but not in the way I have now come to expect. The new improvements are only measurable when he goes full Titan. Then, he heals all wounds he previously sustained, on one occasion even casually repairing a pierced heart._

 **Data log entry no.305, date: January 30, 2010:**

 _While I was observing Project Titan as he returned towards his chambers and his pod, I noticed that he has made a companion of one of the G-Elves who had a been grown from a new strand of DNA that was experimental; In the attempt to make them stronger and smarter than the previous models, they were supposed to have minor telepathic abilities so that they could relay information faster, but the sadly the DNA was corrupted, so the experiments all died in the first couple of weeks, and the project was scraped._

 _We must always be willing to learn from our mistakes, and as my father used to say, rather annoyingly often, you can't make an omelet without cracking some eggs. The problem was that one of the batch survived, and when Dr. Malmsteen tried to dump him, the G-Elf jumped out and escaped into the air vents, and has evaded capture ever since._

 _Finding Genomorphs has never proved a difficulty before, as they all use telepathy to communicate with each other, but this one is different. Being grown from a new strain of DNA, his telepathy is apparently on a different frequency from the others, and they were unable to find him…until now._

 _The G-Elf must have found Project Titan, and they must have bonded or something similar. For now, I will leave them be, as there is no harm from this - it may even bode well in the future, as it may be used against Project Titan, should he prove uncooperative._

 _This will be my final log entry for a while, as we shall be putting Project Titan in cryogenic stasis, allowing me to focus on project Kr so that it may be used better for the Light._

.

 **Location: Hall of Justice, Washington D. C., July 4th, 2010**

The Hall of Justice was an incredible sight for the sidekicks walking towards the building with their respective mentors. Even the entrance was amazing, with the massive statues of the Justice League standing above the door to the inner rooms, and the three boys couldn't help but feel nervous at the sight of the door that would change their lives.

It wasn't every day that new members joined the League, making this a very public event. Reporters from dozens of news networks crowded the hall, surrounding the young heroes and veterans. Taking photos or even shouting their names to get their attention.

But they stood there, in silence, waiting for the last heroes to appear. Looking at the entrance in hidden awe, thinking about their future.

Suddenly, two people using super speed stepped behind the small group, and the candidates turned around to notice them. In front of them were a man and a teen, the two of them with different costumes, each with a lightning bolt on his chests.

"I knew it! We are the last to arrive!" the boy, wearing a red and yellow costume complained, pouting.

Then, they continued to walk to the Hall of Justice once again.

The sidekicks walked alongside their mentors. Speedy was an archer, like Green Arrow, and both of them was dressed in different colors. The boy had his costume completely red, with a yellow belt, a yellow hat and yellow pixie gloves and boots. The man next to him, Green Arrow, wore green colors and had a hood covering his blonde hair. He had a short blonde beard and a domino mask, like Speedy and Robin.

Aqualad was the most serious in the group, after Batman and Aquaman. He had dark skin and blonde hair cut into a buzz cut, and was dressed in a red sleeveless skintight Atlantean tunic, as well as blue pants. His arms were covered with black tattoos from his magic training in Atlantis, and he had nothing covering his bare feet. Aquaman, however, had short blond hair and a beard, and wore a scaled orange shirt with green pants.

Kid Flash seemed to be an energetic boy; he had wavy red hair and blue eyes along with red goggles placed on his forehead, used to protect his eyes while running. His outfit however, covered some part of his face, and was yellow on the upper side, with the Flash's symbol and red pants, and with more yellow in the form of his boots. His gloves were the same red as his pants.

"Have the four of the sidekicks ever been together at the same time?" Kid asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Don't call us sidekicks, not anymore," Speedy snapped sharply, catching the speedster off guard.

Kid Flash chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm really overwhelmed about…"

"Mr. Freeze was underwhelmed and you are overwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Robin asked in annoyance as they stepped through the doors. He looked up in awe at the statues of the founders of the Justice League, towering imposingly above them. "I can see now…"

As they didn't stop, the people continued to scream their names and ask for autographs. But the heroes ignored all of the civilians. A grey door opened in front of them, and one hero stood there, waiting for them.

The man, who had green skin and red eyes, wearing a blue cape with a red diagonal cross across his chest, spoke as they came closer. "Robin, Aqualad, Speedy, Kid Flash," he stopped suddenly, looking at them with pride. "Welcome to the Hall of Justice."

"Well, make yourselves at home, kids," Flash said after the League members showed their sidekicks around the rooms, ending with the Library, as the sidekicks all sat down on the chairs in the library, except for Speedy, who opted to stand instead. Instead, he turned towards the retreating back of their mentors.

"And where are you going?" asked Speedy.

"Quick debriefing and discussion of the coincidence that four ice villains all attacked on the same day," said Batman. "It won't take long." Heading over to another door, a something came from the roof of the doorway, shining a light over each of the League members. As the light flashed over each member, a computerized voice spoke their respective names.

"Recognized," the voice said. "Batman: 02, Flash: 04, Aquaman: 06, Martian Man hunter: 07, Green Arrow: 08, Red Tornado: 16. As it finished, a door marked _'Justice League Members Only'_ slid open.

"That's it?" Speedy asked the question in a form of protest. "You promised us a real look inside!" the archer snapped. "Not some glorified back-stage pass!"

"It's the first step," said Aquaman, trying to reassure him. "You've been granted access few others get."

Speedy however wasn't buying what the King of the Seas was selling. "Oh really?" he asked in a sarcastic tone, indicating a viewing platform above, separated from the library room by thick glass. "Who cares what side of the glass we're on?"

"Roy," Green Arrow said as he moved forward to console his sidekick. "You just need to be patient."

"What I need…" Speedy snarled, "is respect." Turning around, he looked at the other 'partners' as he called them. "They're treating us like kids," continued Speedy. "Worse… like sidekicks. We deserve better than this," he said as he tried to rile up the three other heroes to his cause, looked at the other sidekicks and partner for any agreement to his words, and found nothing but silence.

"You're kidding, right?" Speedy asked as the awkward silence stretched on. "You're playing _their_ game? Why? Because you think they play fair? Today was supposed to be THE day. Step ONE in becoming full-fledged members of the League!"

"Well… sure," Kid Flash said, uncertainty in his voice. "But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ."

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ," countered Speedy, causing all but the Red Tornado and the Martian Manhunter to widen their eyes. "I bet they didn't tell you that the hall is just a front for tourists… and a pit stop for catching Zeta Beam teleporter tubes to their real HQ, an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."

Batman turned and glared at Green Arrow, who looked a bit embarrassed, much like a child with their hand caught in the off-limits cookie jar. "I know, I know," The emerald archer said as he raised his hands in the assuring motion. "But I thought we could maybe make an exception?" It was said more like a question than a statement.

Batman merely glared harder.

"Or not," said Green Arrow, his face falling ever so slightly.

"You are not helping your cause here, son," Aquaman said as he stepped forward to defuse the situation. "Stand down, or-"

"Or what?" asked Speedy in an annoyed tone, cutting him off. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm NOT your son. I'm not even his!" He snapped, turning towards Green Arrow with an accusing finger, making the older Archer flinch. "I thought I was his partner but… not anymore." He then threw his hat on the floor, at the feet of the Justice League members, collecting the shock of everyone there. He turned and began to exit the room, but shot a glance at the other four sidekicks.

"I guess they're right about you all," he snarled as parting words. "You're not ready." With that, he was out of the room.

Suddenly, an alarm began blaring, and all of a sudden, several computer screens lit up. On one was one of the founding members of the League, Superman.

"Superman to Justice League," The Kryptonian said. "There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus," Batman as he walked to the computer. "This may present the perfect opportunity to-" Batman was cut off by another alert, and another League member.

"Zatara to the Justice League!" The magician said as he appeared on screen. "The sorcerer Wotan is using the amulet of Aten to block out the sun. Requesting full League response." Batman looked to the Man of steel.

"Superman?" he asked.

"It's a small fire," she said. "Local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman said. He pressed a button before announcing. "All Leaguer's rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out." With that, he and the other Adult League Members began to walk away.

"Stay put," Batman said as he looked at the younger heroes as he walked past.

"What, why?" asked Robin, who was obviously disappointed.

"This is a League mission,« said Aquaman, before Flash took over for the Atlantean King. "You're not trained-"

"Since when?" asked Kid Flash, cutting Flash off in his speech.

"I meant you're not trained to be a part of _this_ team," Flash finished as he pointed at Aquaman, Batman and himself.

"There will be other missions," said Aquaman. "When you're ready."

"For now," Batman said, ignoring the sidekick's words and gaze, "stay put, and wait for us to return." With that, the League continued through the Zeta teleporter.

"Glad you didn't bring You-Know-Who?" Green Arrow asked Martian Manhunter quietly as the archer waited his turn behind the others.

"Indeed…" was the Martian hero's simple reply, before they both stepped into the teleporter.

"When we're ready," Kid Flash muttered as he stared, almost broken, at the door the Justice League members had left through. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like _sidekicks_?" he asked, his voice rising in anger at not being in the same category as his uncle and idol.

Aqualad looked down during this time, a depressed aura settling over the dark skinned Atlantean. "My mentor," he said in a saddened tone. "My King. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust?" Kid Flash snapped as he swung around to face his water breathing friend. "They don't even trust us with the truth about their headquarters. They've got a secret HQ… IN SPACE!"

"I've a better question, why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin asked. It was pretty obvious that Batman and the others didn't have any trust in them to be full members of the League. But there was something that they could do.

"What's Project Cadmus?" asked Aqualad and looked at Robin and Kid Flash, searching for an answer and also trying to get rid of the tension in the room.

Robin was drawing a blank, but he had a way to check it. "I don't know. But…" he said, walking to the computer. Reaching the glowing keyboard, he tried to search in the League's database. The computer blared angrily as it denied him access.

Robin chuckled softly. "Oh, really now?" He smiled and hacked the computer, punching keys in rapid succession on the keyboard.

"Dude, how are you doing that?" Kid Flash asked in a surprised tone.

"It's the same system as the Batcave," the thirteen year old hero explained, and the people behind him nodded, the idea making sense. "And… there."

The screen went green and all the information that Batman had collected on Project Cadmus scrolled all over the screen. "Cadmus… Genetic engineering on the outskirts of Washington," Robin said, looking back to Kid Flash and Aqualad. "That's all there is, but if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice," spoke Aqualad.

"Hey. They're all about justice," Kid Flash proposed, a smile growing on his face at the idea of how he could pay back his mentor.

"But they said stay put," continued Aqualad as he gave a disappointed sigh.

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this," countered Robin with a smirk on his face.

"Wait. Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going," said Kid Flash as he put both hands on Robin's shoulders.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" said a smiling Aqualad.

 **Location: Cadmus Sub Level 52**

 **Time past: three hours.**

The small team of sidekicks, consisting of Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash, had broken into the Cadmus building, intent on proving to their mentors that they were worthy of being called heroes. Yet, they had quickly found themselves in a situation well out of their control, deep in the bowels of Cadmus, a place that should never have existed. And to make matters worse, they were surrounded by creatures that should have never been thought into existence. They were named Genomorphs, as Robin found out when he hacked the information banks.

Escaping from the creatures, the small team had found themselves in a hidden room, where they found a black haired clone of a younger Superman, standing in a tall pod marked _Project Kr._

The sidekicks came to a unanimous decision to free the clone of Superman, resulting in Robin bringing forth his holographic keyboard to hack into the black haired teen's containment pod. As the clone of Superman, appropriately named Superboy, was about to be released by the young heroes, the horns of the three genomorphs that sat above his head glowed a menacing blood red, as if they were communicating with the Superman clone.

The clone's eyes opened wide and immediately narrowed, he then destroyed the glass of his prison and charged the sidekicks, who quickly moved out of the way. Kid Flash started to dodge the clone's attacks while shouting, "Hey, we're trying to help you, damn it!"

But it was all in vain, as the Superman clone used this opportunity to attack the young speedster and took him down hard. Kid Flash tried to get up, but was interrupted by a fist to the face. As Kid Flash was taken out of the fight, Robin used this to his advantage, jumping into the air and throwing some explosive batarangs at Superboy, but it did little more than push him back a couple of feet.

The smokescreen provided the young boy wonder with a chance to jump onto the shoulders of the clone, simultaneously retrieving something from his utility belt. However, before he could reach for whatever he was trying get, he was seized by his cape and then slammed into the ground by project Kr.

The air left Robin's lungs, and before he could regain his senses, he a foot smashed to the side of his head, knocking him unconscious. The only one left standing was Aqualad, who used his Atlantian strength to put Superboy into a chokehold while speaking, "Calm yourself, we are trying to help you, we are not the enemy."

The clone ignored him. Instead, he jumped and smashed Aqualad into the ceiling, dislodging the Atlantean's grip. Aqualad then plummeted to the hard ground, where he lay, struggling to get up, while Superboy walked towards the closed doors that separated this room from the rest of Cadmus.

As Superboy pried the doors open, he saw the smiling face of Dr. Desmond, who was proud that his creation was able to stop the sidekicks of some of the greatest protectors of the Earth.

Project Kr walked towards his destination, given to him via his G-Gnome by an egotistical Desmond. At that very moment, the sidekicks that had been captured by him, and the other experiment, were being cloned for the purpose of replacement and infiltration.

The black haired clone halted as he heard the voice of the sidekick of Aquaman pleading for his help. As he turned around to look at the direction from where he'd come, the G-Gnome on his shoulder again tried to control him, but it was in vain, as he resisted and threw the little thing off his shoulder, splattering it against a wall.

His feet echoing on the metallic surface of the corridor, he marched towards the labs.

Massive booms were heard from outside the cloning room, and Desmond and those present not currently trapped in pods, turned in curiosity before the seven ton door slammed off its hinges and flew into the wall on the other side of the room, embedding itself ten feet deep.

Much to the surprise of Desmond, it was project Kr, who started to walk towards them. Guardian, wearing his golden helmet, and Dubbilex, a tall G-Gnome, tried to stop him, only to find that Project Kr was…unstoppable.

Guardian attacked with a basic tackle, using his shield as a battering ram. It made no difference, and he was just slapped aside by a much stronger Superboy. Guardian crashed into some of the pods that housed still developing Genomorphs, destroying them in the process.

Dubbliex, seeing this, tried a different strategy. Keeping his distance, he threw barrels at Superboy using his telekinetic powers, but it was a losing battle, as project Kr. just smashed any projectile that came his way. The clone reached Dubbliex and threw him away. The G-Gnome flew through the destroyed doors and crashed into a wall at the far end, thus knocking him out.

Superboy then continued to walk towards the sidekicks and was about to reach them when his path was intercepted by Desmond, who started to shout at him.

"I thought I ordered you to get back in your-" Desmond was interrupted as Kr smacked him away and out of the room.

" _Don't give me orders_ ," Superboy snarled angrily.

"Sooo… are you here to help us, or fry us?" Kid Flash asked Kr as his head leaned forwards in his confined state. Kr's eyes narrowed for a moment before they went back to their original size.

"Huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I guess my only option is to help you," Kr said as he glared slightly at the redhead.

Before anyone else spoke or moved, Robin dropped out on his own accord, having picked the locks confining him for the last ten minutes. "Ugh! Man, I'm lucky Batman isn't here! He'd have my head for taking so long picking those locks!" Robin complained loudly as he readied himself to hack the systems.

Kid Flash swiveled his head towards his comrade, eyes flaming in righteous anger as Superboy worked on freeing Aqualad.

"Seriously!? That's what you're worried about…? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!" Kid Flash shouted before he fell down from his restraints, face planting on the ground beneath him for good measure; much to the pleasure of everyone in the room. They started running towards the lifts in hopes of escaping.

When they got there they discovered a shocking truth - Superboy could not fly, but he could still leap tall buildings, as Kid flash pointed out. They continued their journey and they eventually made it to the first floor below ground.

There, they met Guardian and Dubbilex again, backed by a couple of G-trolls and G-elves. The genomorphs were about to attack, when they were stopped by Dubbliex, who raised his hand.

"Wait, I believe that our brother Superboy has the right to choose if he wishes freedom," said the long-horned genomorph.

"What are you talking-" Guardian tried to say, but was interrupted by a psychic attack from Dubbliex that knocked out both him and the three sidekicks.

" _Now, what is your choice, brother?"_ asked Dubbliex mentally.

Superboy looked down in thought, then after a while, he looked back with narrowed eyes as he spoke. " _I want freedom_."

" _Very well,_ " said Dubbliex as he then awoke the other heroes, as well as Guardian, but removed the mind control that had been placed on the man.

Just as they were about to make their escape, Desmond appeared once again, an army at his back. Guardian, who was now back on the heroes side, said that he would take care of Desmond.

"I don't think so," the brown haired, egotistical scientist spoke up from behind the crowd of Genomorphs.

The entire group, plus the now reawakened superheroes, turned as he produced a vial of slightly glowing blue liquid. "Project Blockbuster will give me more than enough power to restore order to Cadmus and put all of you rejects back in your pods," he announced before downing the blue liquid. He quickly grasped his body and grunted in pain as he literally burst out of his skin, undergoing the immediate transformation from man into an abomination.

"Stand back!" Guardian shouted as he rushed the monster, with shield held at the ready to strike the beast that was formerly known as Dr. Mark Desmond, only to be slammed into a wall, unconscious, as he was struck by a massive blue fist.

Superboy launched forwards, slamming his fist into the beast's face. Blockbuster, however, acted as if he had not even noticed the blow, and knocked the Super Clone to the ground.

The other sidekicks watched as the two battled, yet could clearly see that Superboy would not be able to stop this beast alone. They quickly started to help the clone but seemed to do little more then piss off Blockbuster even more. As they continued to do battle, they never saw a certain G-elf watching them.

It then quickly started to scramble through the air vents, deeper into Cadmus.

 **Location: Cadmus Sub Level 53**

We find the special G-elf in front of a pod with a symbol of a shield with two wings crossing each other on it. The pod had ice covering the glass in a thick layer of frost, preventing anyone from seeing what was held inside.

The G-elf jumped onto a control pad just to the left of the pod, his tiny hands a blur over the buttons. The pod started to slowly unfreeze, the icy armor clicking and then sloughing off in large chunks, and once it was done, you could see that inside, there was a boy about 15 years of age.

The boy had short, spiky blond hair with three whisker-like marks on his face. He had a very well built body that was bulging with muscles (A/N: think Super boy, but a bit more muscle) that was covered by a black version of the Super boy suit, except that instead of an S, he had a smaller version of the symbol that was on the pod on his left pectoral muscle, right above his heart.

The pod slid open, and he fell to his hands and knees, as he appeared to be just waking up. Once he was fully awake, he stood up in the pool of half-melted ice that covered the floor, and waited for the shakiness to pass. Then, he opened his eyes and looked around.

He smiled as he spotted the G-elf. "Hey there, how have you been, my friend?"

In response, the G-elf's horns glowed red as he relayed all that had happened to the blond.

"Hmm, I see. Dear old Desmond has finally finished his little pet project he would constantly brag about while I was still his experiment," he said while releasing a sigh. "No, it wasn't enough that he had to do his tests on me, he had to go on long, _repetitive_ monologues about how great he was. I swear, that man's ego is too big for his head, I'm surprised that his head doesn't just explode from having to contain all that self-importance."

The G-elf's horns glowed a second time, and Naruto just lazily waved him off. "Yes, yes, I know! I'm going, I'm going – sheesh, don't get your horns in a bunch, I'll help the little heroes," he said as he got a small smile on his face.

He then started to slowly jog while the G-Elf followed closely behind. Picking up speed, he went into a full-on sprit to the door and once he was close enough, he jumped straight at it.

On the other side, a handful of G-trolls patrolled their designated corridor, and had not the slightest inkling that anything was up when they were all sent flying, the door crashing into them and picking them up like a blow from an oversized tennis racket.

As the ones that hadn't been knocked turned towards the direction of the gaping doorway, they could see the blond, but he was now in his Titan form, and had smoke curling away from his body, as if his skin was some volcanic region in Iceland. His Jaw opened, and steaming hot air came rushing out of it. He then looked at the trolls and narrowed his eyes to murderous slits.

He was just about to charge when the G-elf jumped on his shoulder and its horns glowed red. The Titan looked at him and then gave a small nod before he looked towards the ceiling and jumped straight through it.

He continued bursting through the floors like a reverse bunker-buster bomb he reached the level where the sidekicks were currently battling Blockbuster.

 **Location: Cadmus Sub Level 1**

The heroes were having a tough time against the beast, as it appeared that it did not feel pain. Blockbuster would just continue to take the punishment that they dished out as if it was nothing, and seemed to have an endless supply of stamina. However, while the monster seemed to not have even been winded, the same could not be said for the heroes, who were quickly starting to run out of steam. With each passing minute, it was looking more and more like a hopeless battle.

Kid Flash, who was running on fumes, looked at the creature and spoke while panting.

"What does it take to stop this guy? Do we need to drop a building on him or something?" he asked.

"I don't kno-…Kid, you're a genius!" said Robin in a defeated tone, however, the idea Kid flash proposed was brilliant, and he could not believe that he would ever use the words Kid Flash and genius in the same sentence. He looked at Aqualad and Superboy and shouted. "SUPER BOY, AQUALAD! Get him up to the ground floor and then make him take out as many pillars as you can!"

The two boys nodded, and were just about to charge Blockbuster again when the floor beneath him started to shake, and as he looked down, he saw a giant arm come crashing through the floor and grab Blockbuster. The hand was followed by an arm, then a head, and then by the rest of the body. The sidekicks were shocked when they realized the size of the creature. But their attention was diverted from the huge form to a smaller one. It was a G-elf, and it had small horns on the front of its head which where glowing.

" _Tell me your plan, and I shall relay it to my friend, who shall help you in this endeavo_ r."

The young heroes were shocked! That thing was helping them! But none the less, they told their plant to the creature, who gave a nod and ran towards the Titan, then skillfully clambered up his body to his shoulder, where they could see the Titan look at them and nod. He then threw Blockbuster through the ceiling and jumped after him, the young heroes following closely behind.

As they got to the ground floor, they saw the giant Titan throwing Blockbuster around into the pillars, destroying them. However, it did little to stop the former scientist, as he continued to get back up. When Naruto saw this, he changed his tactic to just pummeling the monster into the ground, delivering punch after massive punch, creating a small crater, and once Naruto saw that Blockbuster was _still_ getting up, he started to stomp on him as he waited for the heroes to finish their plan.

He then heard Robin shout.

"Hey, big guy, we're ready!" As he said this, he activated the explosive bat-rang, thus destroying the last two support pillars, making the building collapse in on itself. When Naruto saw the ceiling coming down, he quickly ran to the heroes and covered them with his giant body, protecting them from the falling ruble.

Once the dust settled, the rubble started to move, and Naruto, in his Titan form, erupted from the ruins with a giant roar. The sidekicks below him also rose as they watched the full moon and their new giant companion. Kid flash smiled and got the attention of the Superman clone.

"Look the moon," he said as they all smiled at what they had accomplished. Their sight of the moon was interrupted by multiple figures emerging the sky and blocking small parts of the moon. They quickly recognized their silhouettes. The Justice League had arrived.

"And Superman! Man, do we keep our promises or what?" Kid Flash said before he went silent as he saw that behind the Man of Steel wasn't just a few members of the Justice League, it was the _entirety_ of the Justice League.

Superboy walked forward as they landed, Superman and Batman's eyes narrowing dangerously.

As the black haired clone lifted the front of his torn shirt, proudly showing his S-symbol to the older Kryptonian, the older look alike's eyes widened, and a hopeful look spread across his clone's features. Then, they hardened along, with his look.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked in a hard tone as Kid Flash came to stand next to the clone.

"He doesn't like to be called an it!" The redhead called from behind his hand, as if the weapons wouldn't hear him.

"I am Superman's clone!" Superboy spoke proudly. Shock and awe spread throughout the Justice League.

Behind his mask, Batman's eyes narrowed in a fashion similar to Superman's, causing them to be nothing but white slits. However before the sidekicks could explain their actions, they turned around hearing a roar, as they saw the members of the JLA surrounding their big companion, who preparing for a fight.

"Wait, he's on our side! He helped us defeat the monster that's lying under the rubble!" shouted Robin. This made the other members of the League pause as they turned to look at the boy wonder, then back at the giant.

They were about question it when they saw the beast release a giantic amount of steam that covered its whole body, and once it disappeared, they saw that in its place was a teenager with blond hair and whisker marks, wearing a similar attire to the Superman clone.

He gave them a small wave and smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm sorry I didn't transform back before, but I got distracted by seeing the moon after so long…I used to stare into the sky before I was captured." He would have continued to talk if weren't for the G-elf jumping onto his shoulder. "Oh, right, and this is my friend," he finished, obtaining a shocked look from both the heroes and sidekicks

"Wait, you can TALK!?" shouted Kid Flash in his ignorant ways. However, Naruto ignored or didn't notice it, as he choose instead answer the question.

"Well, in my Titan form, I can't, but in my normal form, and my mini Titan form, I'm able to, yes."

This made them wonder what was he talking about, but they decided put those questions aside for later. Batman, the genius detective, was already going to state of mind that straddled the border between being prepared and paranoia. He decide to deal with it later and instead focus on the sidekicks and the clone.

"Start talking."

After Robin and Aqualad's long explanation, Blockbuster was hauled away by the Hawks and Green Lanterns. As Superman talked with Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman, he glanced over his shoulder. Noticing Superboy's piercing stare, the Man of Steel walked to him.

"We'll, uh… figure something out for you… the League will, I mean!" he added quickly. "Till then… I need to… make sure they get that… Blockbuster creature locked away!"

With that, he turned from his clone, before flying up into the sky once again. Superboy watched his biological parent fly away, before Batman's monotonous voice broke his thoughts.

"Cadmus will be thoroughly investigated. All fifty-two levels." He spoke as he walked towards the three young heroes and the two Cadmus experiments. "Let's make one thing clear-"

"-You should have called!" The Flash interrupted as he zipped over in front of the intimidating martial artist, almost as if he was disappointed on missing out on a good fight, making Naruto and Kid Flash chuckle a bit.

"End results aside, we are not happy," Batman continued, a bit ticked that the red spandex wearer had interrupted him during his lecture. "You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered your and other's lives. You will _not_ be doing this again!"

Aqualad stepped forwards, looking at his comrades meaningfully. "I am sorry Batman. But we _will_ ," The Atlantean said in a determined voice

"Aqualad, stand down!" Aquaman ordered as he too came to stand at the side of his black clad teammate.

"Apologies, my king," the dark skinned teen replied, placing his hand over his heart and closing his eyes with a bowed head in respect for his leader and mentor, "but I must disobey. We all did good work here tonight. The work all of you trained us to do. Together. _All_ on our own, we forged something powerful. Something important." Flash stepped forward as the Atlantean finished his speech that shocked the orange-wearing King.

"If this is about your treatment at the hall!?" He exclaimed. "The three of you-"

"The _five_ of us," Kid Flash interrupted.

"And we're ready to put to use what you all taught us to do!" Robin said as he looked up at Batman, as he walked forwards. "If not, why did you even teach us at all?"

"Why let them decide? It's simple. Get on board, or get out of the way." Superboy spoke with a defiant look spread across his features. The three Leaguers looked to each other in a silent debate, before Batman nodded.

 **Location: Mount Justice July 8, 2010**

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League when we first began," Batman said to the five teenagers surrounding him in civilian clothes. "We're calling it into service again. Since you five are intent on staying together, to fight the good fight, you'll do it on _League_ terms…Red Tornado has volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary is in charge of training, and in case you need counseling."

The blonde woman, wearing a leotard and a blue jacket, glanced over the small group, allowing her eyes to linger on her fellow blond Naruto.

He wore a skintight black T-shirt with the same shield and wings design on his left peck, mostly matching Superboy, who wore a black shirt with the red S-shield on it. Worn over the shirt was a light brown leather jacket with the same insignia as his shirt, only larger and on his back. He also wore a baggy black pants that were taped at the ankles by medical tape, which also covered his feet, which were otherwise left bare. On the question of why he didn't wear any shoes, he simply stated that he felt that he didn't need them, and he had a better grip on the floor without them. Besides, he would make too much noise if he wore shoes.

" _I'll_ be in charge of deploying you on missions," Batman continued speaking, bringing the blonde crimefighting martial artist out of her thoughts.

" _Real_ missions?" Robin asked, completely suspicious of his mentor most likely sending their new team to and fro on errands.

"Yes, but _covert_." Batman said, placing stress on the word covert as he sent a slight glare in Kid Flash's direction.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Flash said as he came up behind his unmasked sidekick with a smile on his face after talking to Black Canary. "There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests," he continued, pointing to the lightning bolt drawn across his chest.

"Cadmus has proven that criminals are getting smarter," Aquaman spoke. "Batman needs a team that can operate on the down low and out of sight."

"The six of you will be that team," Batman continued as if the two heroes hadn't spoken.

"Cool!" Robin spoke with his signature impish laugh before assessing the last words spoken by his mentor. "Wait, six? Aren't there only five of us?" He asked as he indicated behind him with his head to the ones that had been in Cadmus, just as Martian Manhunter appeared, with a young girl with green skin, freckles and red hair wearing a female version of the older Martian's uniform at his side.

"This is Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman announced as he motioned them to come over.

"Hi!" The young Martian said with a cheerful, if not naive wave. Kid Flash smirked perversely as he placed a hand on his hip, looking at Robin. "I'm liking this gig more and more every minute! Eh- Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash! That's Robin and Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names."

The green-skinned girl clasped her hands together.

"I'm honored to be included in the team," she spoke, as the four original sidekicks made their way over to her. Glancing over his shoulder, Robin noticed the two experiments off to the side.

"Hey Superboy, Naruto, come meet the new girl!" he shouted before Superboy and Naruto walked over in front of her.

The girl blushed when she caught sight of Kr, and her clothes changed to match the colors of Superboy's shirt, her cape disappearing. "I like your shirt," she said with an even bigger blush, which got a small chuckle form Robin, while Naruto, Superboy and Kid Flash remained oblivious of the meaning.

Kid Flash laughed as he grabbed both former weapons around their necks, pulling them down to his height, and Robin leaned against Naruto as they continued to make small talk. "Today is the day," Aqualad said with a happy smile as he observed his new team.

 **TO BE CONTINUED!**

 **Okay, done! I know it seems similar, or perhaps even the same as the original, but I hope you'll still give it a chance. So now, another thing I need from you guys is a name for the G-elf, as I really don't know what to call him, since I'm not that good with names for pets.**

 **R &R**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Normal talk"

" _Thought_ "

" ** _Hologram, communicator & video link"_**

 **WELCOME TO HAPPY HARBOR! TWISTER, MEET SENTINEL!**

 **Location: Star City, July 17, 2010**

A small group of mob criminals were unloading a truck under the watchful eye of their boss and his lieutenant when a red arrow struck a crate that one of the men was carrying, destroying it.

It's contents spilled in front of a tall African-American male with a enormous, very muscular frame. He had a short withe goatee and wore his hair in segmented cornrows that came together as a ponytail on the back of his head. He was wearing a tailor-made grey suit with a yellow silk scarf, and the way he drew a pistol from within his jacket was smooth, fast and practiced. He aimed up to the crane that he saw Speedy, the former sidekick of Green Arrow, was on.

"You again..." The man said, raising an eyebrow as an annoyed look crossed his face. "I'm beginning to get insulted; Green Arrow is sending a kid after me instead of coming here himself!" he shouted, firing the gun, forcing Speedy to abandon his post.

Speedy grabbed an arrow from his quiver, back-flipped over another shot from the mob boss and shot one of his arrows into the barrel of the gun, making it explode just as Brick pulled the trigger, burning the man's suit in a flash of powder.

"Do you know what the cost of a suit in my size is?!" the man roared, turning to his subordinates that had been watching him fight the hero. " _Get him!_ "

The men began aiming their automatics at the archer, hoping to take him out to gain favor from their boss, but a yellow and red blur swiftly took their guns away as it passed them, before a figure wearing a red fish-scale tunic landed before the men and knocked them out with what seemed to be a hammer made of water.

"The cave is perfect... It has everything we need," Robin said as landed behind Speedy, kicking one of the mob members that were sneaking up behind the crimson archer.

"For covert missions... You know, spy stuff," Kid Flash said as he dashed beside another couple of mobsters, knocking them out before speaking up. "And you should see Superboy, Naruto and Miss Martian... But I saw her first."

Speedy grunted in annoyance before he launched an arrow at the mob boss that was daring him to use another exploding arrow, only to be covered in polyurethane foam, and he turned to the three sidekicks that come to help him and hopefully recruit him.

"So... are you in?" Robin asked with Speedy walking away from them.

"I'll pass," he said with an arrogant grunt, looking over his shoulder at his fellow heroes. "I'm done with Green Arrow and the League telling me what to do... I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse to hang out with kids. Your Junior Justice League's a joke... Something to keep you all busy." He walked between some crates that cast a shadow concealing his form as he walked away into the night.

 **Location: Mount Justice, July 18, 2010**

 **"** _ **Recognized Robin, B02. Kid Flash, B03,**_ **"** the Zeta-Tube voice said as Robin and Kid Flash walked into the room from the Zeta-Tube, wearing what appeared to be their civilian clothes, towards Aqualad, M'gann, Naruto, his companion and Superboy, all of whom were standing in front of holographic computer screens.

It was a shock to see Naruto actually using the computer. Naruto was wearing a simple tight orange T-shirt with a flame design on it, and a dark orange leather jacket over that, as well as a pair of black biker pants and boots.

As Robin walked next to him, he saw a picture of a red-haired woman on screen who had similar facial features as Naruto. "Hey Sentinel, what are you doing there, and who's that woman in the picture?"

Without even looking up, the young hero Naruto spoke. "It's my mother, I'm trying to search for her, I went to my old house, only to find it in the possession of an old married couple. They said that they had been living there for six years. Apparently, the woman who sold them the house matched the appearance of my mother, they said she was in a hurry to sell, something about bad memories… _DAMN IT!_ "

He smashed his keys on the keyboard in frustration.

"There's nothing here. It says that mom's company is being run by her assistant, and that's all - her bank accounts haven't been touched since 2004, and that was just a small withdrawal compared to the large amounts she has in there. There's no paper trail leading to her location, no off shore accounts, not even a damn Swiss account! It's all a dead ends!"

Kid flash then sped next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, you'll find something, and you have us to help you find her."

Naruto turned around and looked around, seeing everyone nod before giving a small smile. However, he was interrupted by an alert that flashed on the computer screen, notifing him that his searches had just found a match. Naruto's hope rose as he thought that it could be a lead to his mother's location, but it was quickly diminished as he saw the face onscreen.

It was the man who'd left his mother. It was his _father_.

As Naruto read about him and the text scrolled onscreen in a blur, his face turned from a small smile to a deep scowl. He then shut off the screen and stormed off in silence, the G-elf following closely behind. M'gann tried to go after him but Aqualad stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. As she looked at him, the Atlantean shook his head.

"Give him some time, he needs to think things through. It is a traumatic experience, to lose one's mother, but it is even worse to know that she is somewhere out there, and you are unable to reach her." As he said this, he let go of M'gann, and she let Naruto leave the room.

"Yeah, that's true – however, he appeared to have calmed down after our little pep talk…but when he read about someone named Minato Namikaze, he seemed to get really pissed off… so the question is, what did Sentinel read that ticked him off so much…?" said Robin, putting a hand under his chin in a thinking pose.

"Well, why don't we just find out and see what's ticked him off… I'm sure that Rob could get back the search history, so to speak," said Kid Flash as he ran next to Robin and put a hand on his shoulder.

"While that would be acceptable against a known criminal, Sentinel is our teammate, thus it would count as a big invasion of privacy, and would most likely lead to us losing the trust that we have established so far…" Aqualad spoke up, confirming his status as the voice of reason on the team.

Everyone looked down, feeling a bit guilty at the thought of snooping around in their teammate's private life. Trying to lighten the mood, Kid Flash made some jokes, for which he gained a laugh from Robin, who then walked over to Aqualad, while the speedster went to try and hit on M'gann, who ignored the speedster's obvious attempts at getting a date. Suddenly, the young boy wonder spoke up when he remembered something.

"Is he coming?" to which he received a nod from a smiling Aqualad.

"Red Tornado will be here any minute now."

Hearing that, the teen heroes calmly walked to the hidden opening, with M'gann talking to Superboy, as she wanted to get to know the boy she had a not-so-hidden crush on, while she continued to subconsciously ignore Wally.

As they exited the cave, they saw Red Tornado floating down in a tornado made of red wind. The android looked curiously at the group of eager teens.

"Greetings, Team… Is there a reason you have intercepted me outside the Cave?"

"We had hoped you'd have a mission for us," Robin said as he looked hopefully at the robot; Red Tornado just shook his head, getting bored groans from the teens, mentally noting that their blonde comrade wasn't there.

"Missions assignments are the Batman's responsibility."

"But it's already been a week since we came here..." Kid Flash groaned.

"Perhaps you should use this time to get to know each other. Knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses could prove very beneficial to the team on missions... You don't know how each of you fights...Mainly Naruto, M'gann and Superboy." Aqualad looked back to the others, before turning back to the direction of the android with his eyes narrowing.

"This isn't a social club," Kaldur said, and Tornado raised his hand to stop him there.

"Yes, I know that... But I've learned that it is a good team building exercise... In the meantime, keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the cave." The Justice League member then walked towards the cave, leaving them behind, as Wally nudged Robin.

"Keep busy..." Wally said with some resentment in his voice, letting the words of Speedy get to him. "Do they think we're falling for this?"

M'gann smiled at his question with a childlike innocence before turning to the two heroes. "Ooh, let me, I'll find out." She said bubbly as she stretched out her mind to see what she could find in the android's mechanical brain. "Nothing…? Hello Megan! I forgot he's inorganic," she said, a bit put out that she couldn't help, and hit the side of her head. "Sorry…"

"That's a shame... You know what I'm thinking right now?" Wally asked giddily as he dashed to M'gann.

"We don't need a mindreader to know what you're thinking," Robin quipped as he laughed at the discomfort that showed on the sidekick's face.

"... And now we tour the clubhouse," Kaldur said with a sigh, wanting to be able to take down criminals instead of being stuck in some mountain; thankfully, M'gann was the one who broke the tension.

"Well... Superboy, Naruto and I all live here. We could give you a tour."

Superboy stiffened at the mention of him giving others a tour, before he decided to speak up. "Don't look at me."

Wally just shrugged, not really paying attention to the clone, before turning back to the young Martian. "Don't worry… A private tour sounds so much better anyways."

Robin snickered and nudged him before speaking, "She never said anything about a 'private' tour, idiot."

"Team exercise… We all go," Aqualad sighed as everyone got ready to walk around, or fly, in M'gann's case.

Naruto, who had just came back from cooling down, watched M'gann become a tour guide for the others as he walked into the room to see the ending of Wally flirting with the alien, before the smell of something burning reached his nose.

"I should probably get that before it burns," he said to himself as he walked towards the kitchen, remembering how excited his Martian teammate was to make human food. As he pulled out the oven tray, he noticed that they were only a tiny bit burnt on the bottom; the boy shuddered in fear as he remembered what his mother was like when something she worked really hard on didn't work out, or if he did something bad. That image of her body being surrounded by a red aura, and the flaming crimson tails that was her hair, had haunted his nightmares for a week after he first saw it. It only stopped when his mother came to sooth him after one of those nightmares, and told him everything was going to be okay.

On that note, he still had no idea how she did that. Naruto perked up out of his memory as he heard Wally's obnoxious voice coming from the hall.

"What Rob means is... We're hiding in plain sight, and what's that smell?" said the speedster as he was about to continue when a heavenly aroma stormed the bastion of his sense of smell.

"MY COOKIES!" came the scared voice of the Martian girl, just before M'gann flew into the kitchen area and saw Naruto putting all of the cookies onto a plate. The bubbly girl sighed in relief, before turning to the former experiment, saying "Thank you, Naruto... I wanted to try Granny Jones' recipe from episode seven... Um, never mind."

Naruto just raised an eyebrow as the others walked in.

"It was sweet of you to cook for us, M'gann," Aqualad said before Naruto walked to the sink and got himself a glass of water, and then leaned on the counter.

"Well... We're off duty, so why don't we introduce ourselves," M'gann suggested suddenly, even though the four that'd gone to Cadmus already knew each other.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, but on missions I am know as the Sentinel." He took another sip from his glass, not really caring what was going around him.

Kaldur went next as he stepped forward. "My name is Kaldur'ahm, but my friends call me Kaldur," he said with a small smile.

"My name is Wally... See, I already trust you with my secret identity. Not like Mr. Dark Glasses over here," Kid Flash said, eating a cookie and trying out his own personal sexy look in M'gann's direction, then he pointed to Robin before continuing. "Batman's forbidden him from giving his real name to anyone."

Robin just glared at his yellow and red friend, before M'gann spoke up. "Mine's no secret - I'm M'gann M'orzz... But you can call me Megan, it's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."

She then noticed that Superboy was looking down as she subconsciously read his mind.

" _Don't worry Superboy... We'll find you an Earth name too,_ " a voice said in Superboy's head as he began to turn away, as Megan looked to him. The clone stopped in his tracks and whirled around to glare at her. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

The green skinned redhead just looked confused at his outburst, before looking to everyone else as they turned to her. " _What's wrong? Everyone on Mars talks telepathically._ "

"Megan, stop, this may be acceptable back on Mars, but on Earth it is considered a huge invasion of privacy," Aqualad said, causing Megan to look down in sadness.

"Hey Kaldur, Superboy, ease up a bit. She didn't know about that, like the League told us, she is new to Earth, plus you know that my friend can do the same, and you all got used to that, so this is just another voice in your head…okay, that came out wrong," Naruto said, trying to calm everyone down. "What I mean is, it may come in handy, because I'm unable to speak to you guys in my Titan form, which means that I can't really do much to warn you if I see anything that could cause harm to the team, if my friend is knocked out." He hoped they would see the good that it would do in the missions and that it could help when needed. The problem was that it came out differently than he had planned it in his head.

Superboy just glared at him, not even trying to hide his anger, only to back up a bit when Naruto returned one of his own, his eyes glowing a bit as he stared the male Kryptonian down. Their staredown was stopped by Megan's voice.

"Hello, Megan! I know what we can do," Megan said as she slapped her forehead after several moments of tension, her sadness completely gone as her mood took a massive swing. Naruto blinked at that, thinking that the girl was bipolar, before Megan began leading the new team towards the hangar. Once they arrived, they all saw a small, red and black egg.

"It's my Martian Bio-ship," she said happily. The others just stared at the object with confusion, before Wally decided to speak up.

"Umm... It's cute, but not very aerodynamic…but still cute, though."

Megan giggled before waving her hand in a placating motion, "It's resting, silly - I'll wake it up." With another wave of her hand, the egg transformed into a large aerodynamic ship that then turned around in front of them, and a ramp slid down from the door that appeared on the back. They all went in and took their seats that had just appeared out of the floor.

"Red Tornado, please open hangar doors," Megan said into the intercom in her ship, before the doors slowly opened and the ship flew out of the mountain and into the sky above them.

Kid Flash looked at the Martian and sighed dreamily as Robin decided to speak up as he examined the ship, "Incredible."

Wally picked up after Robin, not noticing what he was talking about. "She sure is." M'gann looked to him for some clarification of his words, before the speedster noticed everyone staring at him with an awkward silence filling the ship. "The ship! I meant the ship…All ships are a she," Wally exclaimed as he shook his hands with an awkward smile.

"Fast with his feet, but not so much with his mouth," Robin said, receiving a surprised laugh from Naruto, while Aqualad simply gave a small smirk.

"Dude!" Wally yelled to Robin, only making Naruto laugh even harder.

Of to the side, Aqualad leaned closer to Superboy. "I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking. You overreacted, and you don't know how to apologize. Just say sorry."

The others that heard the conversation knew that it hurt M'gann that Superboy didn't like her, so Robin decided to cheer her up. "He'll come around," he said.

"He doesn't seem to like me much," said M'gann in a sad voice while looking down.

"You guys remember he has super hearing, right?"said Kid Flash, reminding that they could not really talk quietly within range of the Superman clone.

Deciding to change the subject, Robin spoke again. "Hey, how 'bout showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?"

Miss Martian smiled and stood up and started to slowly shift into a female version of Robin and then switched into a female version of Kid flash, doing a little twirl.

"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" asked Kid Flash, looking at the young Martian's form.

"Yes, very much. Everything is wrong with that," said Naruto, who had been silent up to this point. He was ignored by Kid Flash, still stuck in lala-land, but he did get a small chuckle from Robin.

"Impressive, but you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those," said Robin as he praised and at the same criticized the Martian girl.

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," said the girl, a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.

"And your clothes?" asked Kaldur suddenly, to which he received a small smile from the Martian.

"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."

"So long as they're the only ones," said Superboy with a scowl, as the time in Cadmus had left a bad taste in his mouth for anything doing with mental control.

This, however, got Naruto's attention as he was scratching the G-Elf under the chin up to this point. "Hey, Superboy, lay off or else," he said as he glared at the clone, who pointedly ignored him.

"Can you do that ghosting through wall thing, like Manhunter does?" Kid Flash asked as Naruto continued glare at the back of the Superboy's head.

"Density shifting? No, that's an advanced technique," M'gann said after a moment of thought, Robin just gave his impish laugh before pointing to Wally.

"Flash can vibrate his molecules to go through walls, but when Wally does it, bloody nose."

His red haired friend just stared wide-eyed at the traffic-light-themed martial artist, "Dude!"

Megan smiled at her new earth friends, before she placed her hand on one of the 'handles' and it glowed. "Here's something else I can do." The ship turned invisible as they flew by the bay and all of the boats. "Camouflage mode!"

Suddenly, the robotic voice of Red Tornado came on over the radio. " _ **Red Tornado to Miss Martian… an alarm has gone off at the Happy Harbor Power Plant; I suggest you investigate... covertly.**_ **"**

"Red Tornado, keeping us busy!" Robin sighed dejectedly before M'gann spoke up in a placating motion.

"A simple fire led you to discovering Superboy and Naruto. We should find out what caused this alert." As she finished, the plant came into view of the windows, and Superboy looked to their right to see a twister coming right towards their ship.

"I think I know the cause," said the Super-clone, making everyone grab hold of whatever they could. The twister instantly sucked the ship in as it came close to them, causing M'gann to force the ship down to the ground to escape the raging wind.

"Robin, are tornados common in New England?" Aqualad asked, turning around as they landed, and saw... nothing. "Robin?"

"Stupid little midgets playing ninja!" Kid Flash shouted before running in. As the others followed after the speedster, they came into the doorway just in time to see their missing teammate getting blown away right in front of them. Aqualad and Naruto quickly ran up to him, and knelt down, hoisting the thirteen year old back up.

"Who's your new friend?" the whiskered blonde asked as he looked over to see a large robot wearing a scarf.

"I didn't get his name...but he packs a punch," Robin said, cracking his neck.

"My apologies…" the robot spoke up in a monotone voice. "You may address me as Mr. Twister." Lifting his arms, he blew wind at them. Naruto noticed the similarities between this Mister Twister and Red Tornado, and while he thought it was a test, he couldn't be sure.

He looked at M'gann and yelled, "M'gann, read his mind! See what he's thinking!"

Superboy tried dashing over, already annoyed by the robot, but was instantly thrown back into the wall behind him when a tornado struck him. "Come on, I was expecting an actual hero, not kids," Mr. Twister said in a droll voice as he struck Kid away with another blast of wind.

"But I thought I wasn't supposed to do that!" M'gann said.

"It's okay to do it to bad guys!" shouted Robin as he used some explosive batarangs to try and stop the Red Tornado lookalike. The Martian nodded and concentrated on the red being.

"Nothing, I'm getting nothing… Hello, Megan. Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornados?"

The sidekicks were about to confront the android as they gained this new information, however they were stopped by a shout from Naruto, who was now in his mini-Titan form.

"Wait, guys! I don't think that this is Red Tornado."

"What do you mean who else could it be? He's inorganic, he's an android and he has the same power set as Tornado…"said Kid Flash as he was convinced that Mr. Twister was the hero Red Tornado. "And besides, how many androids do we know?"

"I know that, but look at it more closely…He floats instead of walking, and while Tornado does the same, he uses a tornado around his legs to do it, and where Tornado expels the tornados from his hands, this Mr. Twister uses cannons instead," explained Naruto as he knew that something was wrong.

"Okay so what do we do now that we know that it's not Tornado?" asked Robin, who knew from his years with Batman that there were too many variables to assume that this android was Red Tornado.

"Well, we scrap the machine, and if it's Tornado we apologise when they rebuild him…Now, I know that some of you will hate this idea, but I frankly, don't care…M'gann, link us up!"

M'gann, who heard the seriousness in his voice, nodded and concentrated.

" _Link is established, now what?_ " she said telepathically as all of the members of the team heard her.

" _Now we destroy this pile of bolts,_ " answered Naruto as he was enveloped by a giant amount of smoke he released from his body.

" _Now_ that _something I can get behind,_ " said Superboy as he prepared to charge at the android.

Mr. Twister, who saw the giant wall of smoke, was insulted that they would use such a weak smoke screen against him.

"Pathetic! I thought that you would have learned your lesson and call for a real hero, but it appears that I shall have to beat it into your skulls." As he said this, he activated his wind cannons and sent a tornado at the smoke screen.

As the wind reached it, the smoke blew it away, and Mr. Twister was shocked as a giant fist came crashing at his form. He used his cannons to quickly move out of the way, however, he was not expecting Superboy to come from the other side and use his own fist to send him flying.

Mr. Twister righted himself in the air, far enough to stay out of Superboy's reach. He was again shocked as he saw the thing that the giant hand came from. It was about fifteen feet tall and was bulging with muscles. The muscles were covered by what appeared to be bones, however, they seemed to be a bit different. The only thing that was left uncovered were the joints on the thing's arms and legs as well as its eyes and his hair, which was the same shade of blond as the young teen that had been with the sidekicks.

"Hmm, it appears that I have underestimated you a little, but no matter. I will simply destroy you, and that may draw out the real heroes." As said this, he suddenly felt an invisible force knock him away from the factory to the nearby coastline. He crashed into the water, and as he turned around, he saw Aqualad swimming towards him at a fast pace, carrying an anchor in one hand that he then used like a baseball bat to send flying out of the water, destroying his right arm in the process.

Once he came crashing out of the water, he was quickly knocked back down to the ground courtesy of a super speed kick from Kid Flash. As he was trying to get up, he felt something get stuck into his remaining arm, and once he looked at it he saw that there were batarangs that had a red blinking LED in the center. The lights started to blink even faster and they exploded, taking his only remaining arm.

As he fell on his face, he somehow managed to turn himself around, but he immediately regretted it as he saw the hulking figure towering over him as it raised its right leg and brought it down, crushing his legs, eliminating any chance of escape.

Robin noticed a line running down the machine's chest, which opened up, showing a skinny Caucasian man with longish brown hair and thick sideburns. He had light green eyes and was wearing green/white suit.

"Hey now, wait just a second now! Foul! I call foul!" the toothpick of a man exclaimed as he tried backing away from the teenage heroes. Everyone's eyes widened as M'gann lifted a boulder that was nearby, getting an instant voice of concern from her teammates.

"M'gann, no!" shouted Aqualad as he tried to stop her, but it was too late as she brought the bolder crashing down on top of the man, destroying him.

"I don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!" shouted Robin in anger as he walked in front of M'gann.

"I thought you trusted me," she said as she removed the boulder reveling not a man made of flesh and blood, but a very much destroyed android made of oil and machine parts. "That's why I couldn't read his mind," she said as her explanation put the young heroes at ease.

They watched as the man's remains twitched and sparked before exploding, sending an eyeball flying over to Wally, who snatched it out of the air with a smirk, not noticing the pupil in the eye dilating. "Cool souvenir," he said.

Naruto's form was again surrounded in smoke, and he was back to normal. He walked to the site where he saw the scarf from Mr. Twister that the robot had lost. He then put it around his neck and wrapped so that the lower part of his face was hidden.

If Kid Flash could take a souvenir then he could do the same.

But then he saw the other arm that Aqualad pulled out of the ocean, and he thought he could perhaps do something with it. And while some may have thought that he was a clueless idiot when he was younger, he was still the son of the two people that had build successful companies that dealt with the improvement of technology such as robotics, cybernetics bioengineering, and other related fields.

Yes, he'd always had problems with basic math and English, but he could still fix a car or even make some smaller robots when he was younger, and since Cadmus had taken him, his knowledge had only improved, although if he could could have chosen, he would have gladly gone to middle school instead of being stuck in a glorified test tube for most of his young life.

 **Location: Mount Justice**

"Mr. Twister was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Robin said as he stood before the red and yellow android, completing his hacking of the robot to find out who'd made it.

"No. This was your battle," Red Tornado said in his usual tone. "I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me."

"But if you're in danger-"M'gann tried to protest, but was interrupted by Red Tornado.

"Consider this matter closed," he said as he walked away.

As the android walked away from the small group, Kid Flash spoke up. "Batman, Aquaman, and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things."

"Guess if we are going to have a baby sitter from the League, a heartless machine is exactly what we need," continued Robin.

"Dude, harsh!" Kid Flash said, perfectly willing to argue with Robin, but was interrupted by Tornado.

"And inaccurate," Red Tornado said as he turned back towards the team slightly. "I do have a heart; it is carbon-steel alloy… I also have excellent hearing."

"Heh…"Robin said as he scratched his head sheepishly, "Right, sorry about that… I'll strive to be accurate."

"And more respectful…?" said Kaldur as he put his hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Speedy was so wrong," Wally said as he and Aqualad walked away and continued to talk.

"This team thing, it might just work out," Robin said with a smirk as he followed his teammates.

Naruto, who was a bit away, leaning against a wall, smirked at the proclamation that was made by the young boy-wonder. Then, his attention was diverted to Superboy and M'gann.

Superboy looked at the Martian and then in a low tone, spoke. "Sorry." With that, he walked away, and he did not see the small smile that crossed M'gann's face.

Naruto gained a small smile of his own, and was happy that the team was getting along well. Once everyone left, he looked at the thing that he was clutching in his hand. It was the hand of Mr. Twister. His attention was again diverted when he felt a weight on his shoulder; it was his little companion, who nuzzled his cheek against the boy's.

In response, Naruto scratched his friend under the chin.

"Hey, my little friend," he said, "how about we go and see what makes this thing tick, huh?" He received a purr in response, to which he smiled. "Well, I'll take that as a yes."

And with that, he walked towards his room and see what he could discover.

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED**_

 **Okay, chapter done! I hope you like it and that you will Review it as much as possible.**

 **What will happen next time? Will the team function like a unit or will it fall apart, what did Naruto discover that pissed him off, and what secrets does the arm hold?**

 **Tune in next time on ARMORED TITAN!**

 **R &R **

**Till next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Normal talk"

" _Thought_ "

" ** _Hologram, communicator & video link"_**

 **DROP ZONE: GOD VS TITAN**

 **Location: Santa Prisca, June 19; 00:43 ECT**

Inside a Venom producing factory on the Island of Santa Prisca, a tall man wearing a black and white luchador mask walked up to the cage separating him and his men from the rest of his venom factory. It appeared as if the Santa Prisca Venom facility was taken over by the infamies Cult of the Kobra, if the men in the red cloaks and masks resembling an angry snake, pointing their guns at anyone that was dressed differently were anything to go by. A Kobra agent was standing in front of a caged door that led to a closed off part of the factory that had only one other door at the other side.

" _Nuestro maestro sublime proclama que partirá esta instalación ...si... Uno de vosotros, derrota a su campeón en combate singular._ (Our sublime master proclaims he will depart this facility...If...One of you defeats his champion in single combat.)" proclaimed the Kobra agent.

The masked luchador stepped forward, past his men, and walked to the caged door.

" _Solo que sea interesante._ (Just make it interesting)," he said as he opened the cage door and walked in. As he stepped across the threshold, he saw two people on opposite sides of the room, one girl and the other, a scrawny boy, both with orange hair.

The weak boy entered the arena and moved the hair away from his eyes with an arrogant smirk on his face.

Bane's attention was pulled from the kid to a sound of something falling next to his feet. He looked down and picked up the object. It was the same device that he used to administer the Venom to increase his strength. Bane turned towards the Kobra agent that stood behind the gate he'd just walked past.

" _Usted me diera mi última arma, cuál es el truco._ (You would give me my ultimate weapon, what's the catch?)" asked Bane as he put the device on his left arm and connected the tube on the back of his skull.

" _Sin capturas difícilmente podría probar la destreza de su campeón... Si no estaban en su mejor momento._ (No catch, it would hardly test his champion's prowess...if you weren't at your best,)" said the Kobra Cultist.

As the Venom started flowing along the tube and reached Bane's skull, he spoke. " _Quieres mi mejor?_ (You want my best?)" He then started to transform as his pupils dilated, muscles bulged, veins appeared on his arms and he beginan to grow larger. He turned towards his opponent. " _Lo tienes._ (You got it)."

At the other end of the arena, the scrawny boy was approached by his sister, and she injected him with some sort of serum. Then she walked back out and closed the cage. The boy started to trash around, clutching his head as whatever the drug was, it appeared to hurt a lot.

He fell to his knees and started to transform, his back bulging out, and he started to scream, his voice getting deeper. His teeth sharpened and become more animal-like, his skin turned gray and started to come apart, on some parts of his body exposing the naked red muscles that lay beneath. His tank top got destroyed as he grew larger and became more beast then man.

Bane and the beast began their brawl.

While at first Bane appeared to have an advantage, as he has more fighting experience and was able to defend and attack, that all ended when Bane went for a strike to the beast's chest and it did nothing. The beast smirked and started to strike Bane on the head, and then struck him in the stomach, making Bane spit out some saliva.

As Bane was about to fall back, he was stopped by the beast grabbing his right arm and throwing him against some pipes, loosening the joins as a bit as a bit of smoke started pouring out. The beast did not allow Bane to regain his breath as it quickly sped towards the downed drug dealer and slammed him into the pipes once again, cracking them, releasing a large cloud of smoke. The monster then picked up the downed Bane and threw him out of the smoke screen and jumped after him. It then used the momentum of its fall to strike a devastating blow to Bane's head, even going so far to destroy the stone ground that lay beneath them. Bane tried to get up, but he was unable to win the fight against unconsciousness.

With Bane defeated, the monster moved away from its downed foe, and when the other cultist saw this they slowly, started to chant.

"Hail Kobra."

"Hail Kobra."

"Hail Kobra!"

As the chanting got louder, a man with pale white skin and a red cloak, with the hood shaped like a cobra's head, could be seen smirking in the rafters above.

"HAIL KOBRA!"

 **Location: Mount Justice, June 22; 17:00 ECT**

We can find our favorite hero in the room he was assigned by the members of the Justice League, sitting at a work table, listening to some music, examining the parts that he got from the android, Mr. Twister.

He could honestly say whoever made this machine was a freaking genius. The designer had used the basic principles of how Tornados were made, and taken it to a whole new level. He was able to make technology that would allow someone to create a twister small enough to be considered a side show attraction, or make them big enough so that they could be considered natural disaster, however, the problem arose in two key factors that would allow such a thing to happen.

The first was, of course, power, as you would need a lot of power to produce any type of tornado, or twister in this case, and the second was control. You would need some way to stop the giant tornado, or a small one for that matter, as they could become self sustaining if left unchecked.

Naruto could not figure out how the android accomplished this. He would have to study the inner workings of the full body, which at the moment was not possible, as the rest of Mr. Twister's body had been destroyed, and he doubted that Tornado would let Naruto take _him_ apart just so he could figure out how to use the damn thing.

The boy's train of thought was interrupted by a small blinking light on one of the computer screens, indicating that the team was needed for a mission. He gave a tired sigh as he got up and turned off the music and all the computers he was using. He suited up in his hero outfit and then whistled faintly, signaling his companion that it was time to leave.

The G-elf quickly came running towards his friend and jumped on to his right shoulder. Naruto looked at him and smiled.

"Are you ready to go, my little friend?" he said as he scratched the G-elf under its chin, which earned him a small purr from the monkey-like being. Naruto stopped for a moment, then gave another sigh as he shook his head. "I know you want to stay, but we need to help our team, and we both know you're the only one that can link me and the rest of the team together if M'gann gets knocked out."

Naruto stopped for a moment again as he received another message from the G-elf. He twitched one eyebrow and lightly bonked the G-elf on the head. "No, you stupid monkey, you're not just a relay dish for us! You're as much a part of this team as me," he said as he petted the G-elf on the head again, and then turned towards the door. "Now, let's go before Batman gets even more broody then he already is."

With that, they walked towards the meeting area.

As he entered the main area where the rest of the team was, he leaned against one of the walls so that he was in Batman's line of sight, while still staying out of sight of his team. He nodded towards the caped crusader, as if telling him to start the meeting. He got no response from Batman beyond him starting to explain the mission.

The Dark Knight brought up a holographic map of an island. "Isla Santa Prisca," he said. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. It's a strength-enhancing drug sold under the street name 'Venom'. Infrared heat signatures indicate the factory is still in operation, but shipments have stopped going out. That's where this team comes in."

As he spoke, images flashed on the holographic screen of the factory, and of a few known criminals who worked there. "This is a covert recon mission," Batman said, turning to the team. "Observe and report only. If the Justice League needs to get involved, it will." He returned to the hologram and brought the map of Santa Prisca back up. "The entry plan we've devised calls for two drop zones, here and here." The map showed the entry points that they will be using in bright color against the dark background.

Robin, who was practically one step away from jumping in joy, spoke up. "So…Who's in charge?"

Batman and Red Tornado looked at each other and back to the team. "Work that out amongst yourselves," said Batman, getting a satisfied smirk form Robin, who in his head had already proclaimed himself the leader. "Now move out."

 **Location: Caribbean Sea; June 22; 20:08 ECT**

Naruto saw the smirk on Robin's face, and he somehow knew that the other was thinking about how he was the leader now, even though he had not been voted in by the whole team.

Sometimes Naruto thought that from all the time that the Boy Wonder had worked with the Dark Knight, he could at least know that he was not ready for the role of leader. Though perhaps it was _because_ he worked with Batman that he thought he was entitled to the position of team leader.

Now, don't get Naruto wrong, he didn't think he would be a better leader than Robin! No, he would probably be worse, seeing as how he was unable to even talk in his Titan form without a psychic on hand, and then there were his people skills, or lack thereof. He was known to be blunt, and could easily offend someone by just making an observation.

So no, he didn't want to be the leader of the team. He knew he was not the right for the position.

"Drop zone A in 30," M'gann suddenly spoke as she stood up. Aqualad nodded and stood up as well, hitting the logo on his belt to transform his suit into a stealth version.

"Ready," he said.

"Putting bioship in camouflage mode," M'gann said as the ship turned practically invisible and flew low over the sea water. A hatch opened in the ship, big enough for a person to jump out of. Aqualad quickly dived into the water with barely a splash. He wasted no time as he swam to shore, where he ran towards a giant machine and attached a rod-like device to it. He then put a hand to his ear and spoke.

" _ **Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop…Move in**_ **."**

The rest of the team were preparing for the next drop point when they heard Miss Martian speak as she stopped the ship above a small clearing. "Drop zone B."

Kid Flash pushed the symbol on his chest and his costume transformed, just like Aqualad, into a black and grey version of the original.

"How cool is this?" he said as he showed off to M'gann.

"Very impressive," she answered as she stood up and used a mental command to make her clothes transform from a white shirt and blue skirt into a black, skin-tight suit with a red X over her chest, and a dark blue cape.

"Uh, that works, too," Kid Flash said with a small, awkward chuckle as he then quickly turned towards the Superman clone and spoke. "Hey, Superboy, not too late to put on the new stealth tech!"

All it got him was a stern look from Superboy. "No capes, no tights. No offense," he said.

"It totally works for you…" said M'gann as she went into a borderline fan-girl mode, but she then remembered what she said and tried to save the situation, "in that you can totally do good work in those clothes…" she said as she blushed while looking away.

Kid Flash was ignoring the conversation as he looked at Naruto, who grabbed a line that had come down from the ship's roof and hooked it to his belt. "Hey, Sentinel, how about you? I think Batman made a suit for you, too." However, he was completely ignored by the teen, who just continued to have a mental conversation with the G-elf on his shoulder.

Eventually, he stopped and looked at Kid Flash.

"Hmm, you say something?" Naruto asked as he looked at the young speedster, who turned around and crossed his arms before mumbling something under his breath, and then speaking in an annoyed tone.

"Nothing, let's just go." With that said, he used his own line to drop down, followed by Robin and Naruto, while Miss Martian flew down. They were about to move to their positions when they had to dodge a falling Super boy, who smirked once he landed.

"Knew I didn't need a line."

"And yet, creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert," said Robin as he got up from the ground.

"Aqualad, Drop 'B' is go," spoke Miss Martian through the communicator.

" _ **Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP**_ ," came Aqualad's voice over the communicator.

"Roger that," said Robin as he was looking at a map of the island. The team rounded on him and he then lead everyone towards the factory. They quickly made their way through the jungle that covered the island, tracking through some tricky obstacles, but they were making good time. As they continued their journey, they were suddenly brought to a halt by Superboy.

"Did you hear that?" he asked as he looked around, getting the smartest response possible from Kid Flash.

"Uh, no. Wait…is this a super hearing thing?"

M'gann spoke without thinking. "You do have great ears."

She was ignored by both Kid Flash and Superboy, while Naruto and his G-elf looked at each other before they both simultaneously rolled their eyes and just looked away from the failed romance triangle.

After snapping back into reality Kid flash looked back at Robin and spoke.

"Ok, Rob, now what?" He saw that Robin was not there anymore as he looked around for him and found nothing. "Man, I hate it when he does that."

"I'm guessing by your tone Robin does this a lot…" spoke Naruto suddenly, looking at Kid Flash with a bored expression on his face.

"Yeah, he-" Kid Flash tried to explain, however, he was interrupted by Kaldur, who broke in over the com.

" _ **Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared…See if you're being tracked.**_ "

The two nodded as they moved a bit forward, and both activated their own unique sets of thermal vision. Kid, who put his goggles over his head, spoke first.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," he said as he saw them moving from their right side.

"Two squads," corrected Superboy, who saw another squad coming from the left. "But they'll meet each other before they find us." They were interrupted by a loud sound of gun fire.

"No super hearing required now," said Kid Flash as he turned off the infrared setting on his goggles.

 **"** _ **Swing wide, steer clear,**_ **"** came the voice of Aqualad, but Kid dismissed him.

"Yeah, as soon as I find Rob," he said as he sped off. However he did not get far as he tripped over a rock and fell on his ass. "Huh? Oof! Aah!" he shouted as he slid into a clearing and saw that he'd landed right in front of the two groups. "So much for the stealthy approach!" he said as they all pointed their guns at him.

As they were about to fire upon him, two batarangs landed in front of the two groups. They both then started to flash red and released a bright flash. The two groups were momentarily blinded as they fired widely, hoping to hit their adversary with sheer mass of fire. Suddenly, two of the thugs got kicked in the head, courtesy of the Boy Wonder. 

"Hyah! What is wrong with you guys?" shouted Robin as he battled the angry people with guns. "Remember _covert_? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?" he shouted again, sounding angry as he thought that his plan was the simplest to understand.

"That's what you were doing?" shouted Kid Flash as he used his super speed to attack the thugs that were trying to turn him into a human cheese wheel. "Way to fill us in…We're not mind readers, you know!" He then looked behind himself and saw Miss Martian, using her psychic attacks to throw thugs around left and right. "Uh! …Er, I'm not, anyway," The young speedster corrected himself.

M'gann just looked at him before shrugging her shoulders. "You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," she said as she continued to beat down the armed criminals.

While the arguing was going on, Superboy had tackled the luchador mask wearing man and tackled him to the ground. However, the luchador was able to get free from the hold, and he twisted Superboy's arm behind his back and started to put pressure on it with the intention of snapping it like a twig.

The luchador was, however, not prepared for Superboy's superior strength. Thus, the clone was able to get out of the hold and punch the man into a tree, where he gave him some quick jabs to the face that were strong enough to knock the man into unconsciousness.

While the rest of the team was duking it out with the criminals, Naruto just stood there, waiting for the right moment to strike, but his mind wondered a bit as he thought about the team as a whole.

He looked at his companion, who was sitting on his shoulder. "They seem to be all over the place," he said, "and they don't function as a unit. Robin and Kid Flash both want to lead, but they don't realize that they are both not ready."

In response, the G-elf's horns glowed as he relayed his thoughts to his partner. Once Naruto received the message, he looked at his partner with a raised eyebrow before speaking again. "You know that I don't want to be leader, and you also know why I'm sticking around this little group, so don't ask stupid questions like that. Not if you already know the answers." He sounded a bit annoyed at the end.

Naruto then saw that a couple of people dressed in red and black were trying to get away from the battle. He smirked at that, before growing armored plates over his body and taking a low running start, while his companion moved to his back so as to not fall off.

"I guess its time to get to work…" he said right before he took off. As he ran towards the group he picked up speed, building momentum. Once he reached the group, he stretched out his arms to the side and as he was near enough he used his momentum to slam into most of the group, knocking them to the cold hard ground and straight into unconsciousness.

He missed one. Just as he was about to go after him, he saw Aqualad jump from the trees and use his mystic tattoos to knock him out with a small current of electricity, preventing any chance of escape.

With that done, they all rounded up the criminals and tied them to the large trees that made up the jungle of the island. Once all the thugs were rounded up, the team gathered to compare notes, so to speak. Robin was the first to speak, as he had the most information on the group that appeared to have taken over the factory of the dangers drug.

"I recognize those uniforms…They belong to the cult of the Kobra," said Robin while he looked at the downed adversaries.

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," spoke Aqualad as he looked at Robin.

"Agreed…And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out," Robin said as a smirk came on to his face and he continued: "That's why normal supply lines have been cut off." He finished by crossing his arms across his chest.

"We get it, Kobra wanted super cultists…Mystery solved," said Kid Flash, who appeared to be a bit fed up with Robin's actions on this mission. "Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time-"

He was interrupted by Robin. "These cultists aren't on Venom… Kobra's hoarding the stuff." The Boy Wonder talked as if he was the leader of the group. "We don't leave…Not until I know why."

The young speedster was ticked off. "Until _you_ know why?" he said in an angry tone.

"This team needs a leader," argued Robin.

"And it's you? Dude, you're a 13-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word," shouted Kid Flash, as he knew that Robin was not ready.

"Ha ha! And you're a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got!" said Robin, laughing sarcastically.

While this was going on, off to the side, M'gann and Superboy were watching this all unfold. M'gann, being as curious as she was, asked Superboy a very important question relating to the subject at hand. "Don't _you_ want to lead?"

Superboy shook his head in response. "You?"

"After my first mission, where I nearly lead the team into believing that Mr. Twister was Red Tornado, no thanks." M'gann shook both her hands a little in a negative motion.

"You did all right," said Superboy with a small smile that had the immediate reaction of M'gann blushing as she turned away with a smile of her own on her face.

Watching the weird couple was Naruto who thought that those two should just get together so that he could avoid seeing these stupid attempts at flirting. Once they concluded their little talk, Naruto diverted his attention to the two heroes, who'd now decided to take a leisurely stroll while _still_ arguing.

"Yeah? You don't even have super powers!" shouted Kid Flash, who was immediately countered by Robin.

"Neither does Batman!" he shouted as he got into Kid Flash's face.

"Duh, you're not Batman." Kid Flash countered this time.

"I'm the closest thing we've got."

As Naruto continued to watch this, he was getting more and more annoyed at what the two sidekicks were doing. In his mind, it was pointless. Even if one of them actually won the argument, they would still need the support of the whole team, so that meant that the entire thing was just a big waste of time, and Naruto hated wasting time. He could be doing much better things than this, like finding his mother, or trying to figure out the Mr. Twister arm, or… _anything_ was better than this, really.

As he saw that the two of them were about to go back at it, his eyebrow started to twitch dangerously and he spoke. "Hey you two little princesses, would you just kiss and make up, or better yet just shut the hell up because you're getting on my nerves."

Kid Flash and Robin suddenly became aware of how close they were, and quickly jumped back with horrified looks on their faces. With that done, Naruto was going to speak again, but was interrupted by laughter from one of the prisoners that were tied to the tree. As they turned around to see who was laughing, they saw the masked Luchador who'd been knocked out by Superboy.

"Such clever niños. But you only know half the story." He spoke with an arrogant smirk on his face. "Let me show you the rest… Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

Miss Martian moved closer and then kneeled to the eye level of the luchador. "There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something."

"Ah, ah, ah, chica," spoke the luchador as he looked at her with a same arrogant smirk as before. "Bane is not that easy."

As Miss Martian looked into his mind, trying to extract the information, she was suddenly stopped, could not get past the stupid mental block Bane put up.

"Ohh. He's mentally reciting football scores in _español_ …This could take a while."

"It's not complicated…" said Bane as he looked at the other heroes. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend…"

 **Location: Venom factory**

In the factory, the cult followers of Kobra were making more of the new drug they had used on the young boy, while watching over them, in the higher platforms, was the leader of their little cult. He was interrupted from his snake-watching, so to speak, as he was approached by one of his loyal followers.

"Sublime master, he approaches," said the cult member as he bowed to the person they all worshiped as a god.

The leader looked at his subordinate, nodded, and spoke in a monotone voice. "Activate the radio jamming net…Nothing must interfere." With that, he turned back to his snake watching.

Back with our heroes, we find them on the top of the cliff overlooking the Venom factory. The young heroes decided that they should release Bane, so they did, and he led them to this location.

"Look at all that product," said Robin as he looked at the crates that were being loaded by Kobra cultists. "A buy is going down…"

"But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then…" continued Aqualad, but was interrupted by Robin.

"We need to identify that buyer." Robin moved away from the cliff.

"Just what I was thinking," said Kid Flash with a smirk. However, it quickly turned into a frown as Robin spoke.

"Yeah, you're the thinker."

"Sarcasm? Dude…A real leader would focus on getting answers," said Kid Flash with dull tone as he watched Robin move towards Bane's location. He saw Bane move a large boulder out of the way, exposing a hidden entrance to an abandoned mineshaft.

Bane looked towards the young heroes. "Answers are this way," he said as he walked into the cave, followed by Naruto, while the others followed with a bit of reluctance.

Kid Flash let his thoughts be known before he started moving. "So, now _el luchador_ is our leader."

With that they walked through the narrow corridors, paying close attention for any traps that may have been set by Bane or his men. As Bane got some distance from the young heroes, he thought that he would be in for a quiet walk that would allow him to think of a plan that would allow him to get back his island. However, his thoughts were interrupted by someone walking next to him. He looked to his right to see that it was the young hero that had a scarf wrapped around his neck, concealing his identity, and he seemed to have something on his mind.

Bane was surprised when he heard a voice inside his head.

" _Hello, Bane. Do not be alarmed, I am speaking to you through a mental link that was established by my friend here,_ " said Naruto, looking at the G-elf on his shoulder.

" _What do you want, niño?_ " Bane thought as he looked at the young hero. In response, the kid looked at him, and he could just feel the smirk that was hidden under that scarf.

" _Well, since you asked, I want to know how your Venom works, and why you didn't use it when you fought Superboy_."

Bane was honestly shocked that a hero would ask such a thing, but then he simply chuckled. " _And why should I tell you this, niño? Your mentors already know Venom's chemical composition, so that begs the question, why don't you ask them_?"

Bane was surprised when he heard the young hero chuckle as well, and then looked him straight in the eyes. _"Well, for starters, I don't have a mentor, and second, we both know who has this information. Thus, we both know that he is reluctant to give it up. As to why you should give me the information, well, who better to know the inner workings of the drug than it's largest distributor as well as its biggest user?_ "

As he said this, Naruto chuckled again and looked behind him to see what his team was doing, as well as to see if M'gann was listening in by some chance. However, he was happy to see that they were all preoccupied with the arguing of Kid Flash and Robin. Seeing that it was safe to continue speaking, he looked at Bane again and continued. " _As for why I want it, well I have quite a bit of knowledge in biochemical engineering and other fields of science, thanks to some outside sources. Thus, I want to explore the possibilities of the venom that you produce._ "

Bane was honestly impressed with the way the young hero thought, but this also gave him an idea how to get out of the fight, and all it would cost him would be a small bit of information that was already known to the Dark Knight, so there was no harm done. However, he knew that he should still see how this would benefit him.

" _While I understand your interest in my Venom, niño, I still do not see the profit I would have from this arrangement."_

Instead of the worried look that Bane was expecting to come over the young hero's face, Naruto got a look that showed that he'd thought of the answer way before they started to speak.

" _The Venom you use now, you are dependent on it. You have no choice but to take it every twelve hours, or else you weaken and go into withdrawal. Thus, it's not you that dictate the times you use the drug. It is the Venom that controls you…_ " said Naruto, as he knew that even though he didn't have the slightest idea how Venom was made, he did know a lot about Bane.

He had read about him during the trip to the island of Santa Prisca, knowing that it was better to be prepared than be sorry _._ However, his revelation shocked Bane, who may have known that this was his weakness, but he also ignored it, arguing to himself that it was a minor price to pay for the advantages it provided.

Bane smirked and released a small chuckle that went unnoticed by everyone but Naruto. "Very good answer, niño. I shall give you the information you seek, but in return, if you should find a way to cure me of this addiction…Now, you will find all the files inside my personal office, copy whatever you need and then leave." As he gave his last statement, he moved forward and ended the conversation.

Naruto looked at his little friend and nodded to him, giving him the signal to turn off the psychic link, and felt his mental connection to the other man disappear. After his little conversation with Bane, the rest of the trip through the mine was relatively quiet, if you ignored the bickering between Kid Flash and Robin.

Finally, they all came to a halt in front of a pair of heavy iron doors. Bane opened the doors, and as the young heroes moved inside, they came in out a small room that appeared to be a storage closet or a changing room of some kind. Bane again moved forward and opened a much smaller wooden door.

Robin then slowly peaked outside, and he saw no guards nearby.

"All clear," he said in a hushed voice as he looked around once more before sprinting into the factory.

The others followed behind, but once they had all exited the small room, Robin was nowhere in sight. Bane got annoyed that a child may have just compromised their position, and he looked at Aqualad, a scowl still present on his face.

"Has that little fool already been caught?"

Aqualad looked at the ground while releasing a sigh. "No, he just does that." He looked at Kid Flash, who was standing next to him with an arrogant smile plastered on his freckled face.

"Stay put… I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder," said the young speedster before he sped off not hearing Aquald as he tried to stop him.

"Wait, Kid!" Kaldur said as he tried to reach him, but it was impossible. He was not nearly fast enough to catch him.

"Great chain of command," said Bane in a mocking tone, a smirk on his face.

Amongst all the confusion, no one noticed that Naruto had disappeared as well. The rest of the team that remained together, and their prisoner, moved closer to inspect what was happening. As they moved behind some boxes, they saw the full size of the shipment for the first time.

Above them, the young Boy Wonder could be seen sneaking in the main control center, knocking out the Kobra cultist inside with a gas batarang that he threw into the side of the control panel.

Back to Aqualad and the others, you could see them observing the cultists at work.

"It's a massive shipment," spoke up Aqualad as he looked at one of the cultists using a forklift to pick some of the boxes.

"Yeah, but they're only taking new product off the line…They're not touching this Venom." continued Superboy as he saw that the workers weren't moving closer to the team's position, but were only taking the newer creates that were positioned near the doors of the factory.

"Maybe freshness counts?" asked Miss Martian awkwardly as she looked at her two teammates.

Before anyone could answer, Superboy heard something that sounded like the engine of a helicopter. "Helicopters coming," he said as he turned around and looked at the direction the sound was coming from.

Back in the command center, we find Robin typing away at the computer that the Kobra cultist had been using just before he was knocked out by Robin. Kid Flash then sped into the room, eating a chocolate bar.

"Whatcha got?" he asked as he ran next to Robin.

"Chemical formulas, I'm guessing it involves Venom, but…" Robin would have continued, but Kid Flash jumped in.

"This one's Venom, and that one's - whoa…that's the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus!" he said shocked as he looked at the chemical components. "Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times stronger than Venom and permanent," he continued, shock clearly heard in his voice, "but how did Kobra get access to project blockbuster?"

"Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier! Using the cult to create a Blockbuster/Venom super-formula," said Robin as he stood up from the chair, already thinking of a plan. He put a hand on his earpiece in an attempt to contact the rest of the team. "Robin to Aqualad, we got…static," he said as he heard that someone was blocking the signal.

The helicopter landed and out came a tall, strongly-built man, cutting an intimidating figure. He had short, blond hair, and his face was covered by a gray hockey mask, which revealed only his brown eyes. He wore a sleeveless, blue muscle shirt, with a collar that covered some of his neck. He wore arm and elbow pads and fingerless gloves. On his left arm, he had metal plates attached that seemed to act very much like armor. The pockets of his black pants bulged with weapons. He also has a belt that seemed to be similar to the one Robin wore.

As the man walked closer, he stopped next to Lord Kobra, who was with his minions, Mammoth and Shimmer. The man then spoke up.

"Lord Kobra," he said in a calm tone.

In response, the self-proclaimed God spoke. "Sportsmaster," he said as he looked at Shimmer, who moved a bit closer carrying a case, and opened it. "The shipment is ready."

Sportsmaster picked up one of the vials of the new drug. "The new Kobra Venom?" asked the blond haired man.

"A complete success…" said the so-called God simply. "Our friends will not be disappointed."

"This is a game-changer…Finally, we can go mano-a-mano with the Justice League," continued Sportsmaster, still examining the sample in his hand.

None of the people present could see a camouflaged M'gann, who was watching the whole thing go down.

"Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now," she said as her eyes turned white and she focused on the buyer. She then transferred the image to Aqualad, who saw the man and was shocked at who it was.

"Sportsmaster, he is the buyer?" asked Aqualad, looked at Superboy, then looked down and put two fingers to his ear so that he could contact the rest of the team. "Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read?"

All he received was static.

"Ugh…Can't reach the League, Robin, or Kid… Comm's jammed," he said, and you could hear a bit of anger in his voice. "We need a plan, no-"

He was interrupted by Bane, who spoke up after a long time of silence. "I have a suggestion," he said as he jumped down from the walkway they were standing on and started to attack the guards.

As he took one down, the other one tried to shoot him, but Bane quickly grabbed the barrel of the gun and moved it downward, letting the agent fire a couple of shots into the floor, then knocking the man out. The shots had the expected effect of attracting the other people that were having a meeting outside. Mammoth was the first to hear it and quickly jumped towards the factory.

In the rafters, Aqualad and Superboy looked at what Bane was doing. "What is he-" Aqualad tried saying, but he and Superboy were interrupted by Mammoth coming crashing through the windows. They abandoned their position and landed right in front of a squad of cultists, all pointing their guns at the two. In the back were Lord Kobra, Shimmer and Sportsmaster.

"Destroy them!" shouted Kobra, and his followers attacked.

Superboy and Mammoth started a brutal grappling match as they tried to get the upper hand over the other. Aqualad used one of his water barriers to create shield, blocking the bullets that were being rained upon him by the cultist, and he used the other one to shoot small water bullets at the enemy.

Mammoth and Superboy had by then changed their fight from a grappling match to a simple yet brutal slugfest. Sportsmaster, who was observing the fight, saw that some of the soldiers were suddenly being flung around like rag dolls, but neither of the two fighters were close enough to be responsible.

Then he saw something in the air that seemed not to belong - he saw that it was M'gann, who was throwing the cultist around. He decided to interfere and help the cultists. He picked a cylinder like object from his pants pocket and then pressed a button on it that made it extend into a spear. He then waited for the right moment and threw it at the Martian girl.

M'gann was able to see it, however, she was unable to move out of the way in time, and her cape was caught. As the cape got pierced by the spear, the missile suddenly exploded and knocked M'gann to the side, momentarily taking her out of the fight.

As this was going on, Kid Flash and Robin arrived at scene. While Kid went to help his friends, Robin had other plans, and disappeared into the shadows.

Aqualad was able to move back and get some real cover, however, he was flanked by some more cultists. As they were about to fire, they were suddenly knocked down, thanks to a super-kick from Kid Flash, who gave him a thumbs up, but he had to quickly hide behind a support beam so that he wouldn't get pumped full of lead.

Aqualad got angry that he could not speak to the team to organize a retaliation, but then he remembered something. "Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!" he shouted to M'gann, who shook her head of the cobwebs that were caused by a spear exploding in her face.

Once she did, her eyes glowed white, and she spoke telepathically. " _Everyone online?_ "

" _Yeah,_ " said Super Boy as he blocked another of Mammoth's punches.

" _You know it, beautiful_ ," said Kid Flash as he did his best impression of a sexy voice.

" _Good…We need to regroup_ ," said Aqualad, but was interrupted by Robin.

" _Busy now_." 

Outside, near the helicopter, Robin landed and looked around, when he heard a voice.

"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to task me," said Kobra in a monotone voice. As he looked at Robin with a neutral face, Shimmer stood next to him.

"What's wrong, Koby? You look disconcerted," asked Robin with a smirk as he moved into a fighting stance and prepared to fight.

Kobra looked at Robin and then at Shimmer. "This is beneath me….Shimmer, take him."

Shimmer charged at Robin, but he jumped over her and landed with his back facing Kobra, while he looked at Shimmer with a smirk. He was about to start his offensive when was interrupted by Aqualad shouting at him through the psychic link.

" _Robin, now_!"

Robin frowned, then threw a flash bang on the ground and disappeared, leaving Shimmer and Kobra alone.

Inside the factory, Aqualad was attacking the Kobra cultists, but he knew that they needed to regroup. "Strategic retreat…Kid, clear a path," he said mentally.

As they all moved to the entrance that they had been shown as they escaped, Robin used the computer to close the large doors, but that did little as Mammoth smashed right through them. Aqualad then had an idea that would stop the beast. "Superboy, the support beams!" he shouted.

Superboy nodded and started to destroy the beams. As he did this, the part of the cave that separated them and their pursuers was blocked off, leaving the group safe for the moment. Mammoth just looked at the rubble that was blocking his path to the enemy before just walking away silently.

On the other side of the wall of rubble, the young heroes gathered in a circle with sober looks on their faces as they all thought at what had just happened, But they were knocked out of their reverie by M'gann's horrified cry.

"NARUTO!" she shouted as she looked, around searching for her teammate, but it was all in vain. He was nowhere to be found.

"Wait, I thought he was with you guys while me and Robin looked for information on the new Kobra Venom!" exclaimed Kid Flash, looking at the other members of the team.

"He was, but we must have gotten…separated," said Aqualad, the only one who was not losing his cool under the pressure that the disappearance of their teammate presented. Everyone looked at Aqualad, and were about to ask more questions, when they were interrupted by the sound of a fist meeting rock.

They looked, and saw that Robin had punched a larger part of the rubble. Robin had his head down in shame, thinking that he was the leader of the team and that he'd just screwed up royally.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" he said, releasing a sigh of frustration. "We got spotted on a simple recon mission, we trusted a known criminal, and now Sentinel is missing…how he could it go so wrong…" He repeated the last part a couple of times more.

"You do have the most experience," Aqualad said, bringing Robin's full attention on him. "Perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared…Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined…You two do not need to talk. But this team is new," he said, pointing at all the young heroes gathered. "And a leader must be clear, explicit…He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan."

Robin's eyes narrowed behind his domino mask, making them appear to become nothing but slits.

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands!" he shouted, but then he calmed down just as quickly as he'd got angry before. He just released a small chuckle and looked at Kaldur with a small smile. "Who am I kidding?...You should lead us, Kaldur, you're the only one who can."

Wally jumped in to protest. "Please! I can run circles-"

"Wally, come on," the Boy Wonder interrupted. "You know he's the one…We all do."

He received smiles from all the others. Miss Martian then jumped in as she bonked her head lightly, as if she'd just remembered something.

"Hello, M'gann, it's so obvious!" she said with an even brighter smile.

Superboy then gave a small smile before speaking. "Could have told you."

They all looked at Kid Flash, who looked annoyed at first, before sighing and simply smiling as well, giving his OK. Aqualad then smiled and walked towards Robin, before putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Then I accept the burden until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders," he said. That got him a smile from Robin, and he continued. "You were born to lead this team…Maybe not now, but soon."

Aqualad moved a bit way to stand in front of the team gathered there, before speaking once more. "All right…Our priorities are preventing that shipment from leaving this island, and locating Sentinel."

The rest of the team nodded, but Robin just had to add his two cents in. "Funny, I had the exact same thought."

 **Location: Venom factory/Helicopter area**

 ****Lord Kobra, Shimmer and Mammoth looked at the helicopter, as Sportsmaster exited the vehicle and looked at the self proclaimed God.

"Sabotage…" Sportsmaster muttered. He knew that his only means of transportation off the island at this time had just been grounded for the unforeseen future. "Robin?"

"Undoubtedly," responded Kobra, before turning towards his subordinate. "Find the problem…Fix it." Shimmer bowed silently in response and walked towards the helicopter.

Kobra was then approached by some more of his followers, who also bowed before speaking. "Master, shall we send search parties after the intruders?"

They received a narrowing of the eyes from their supposed God. "Don't be absurd…They'll come to-" He was interrupted by the sound of more gunfire, coming from the factory that had just recently been cleared of those pesky heroes. "It appears that they have made their move..." he said calmly, before turning around and looking at Mammoth, giving him a simple nod.

The giant thing smirked and jumped towards the factory once more.

 **Location: Hidden Tunnel**

"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer. But it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," said Robin as he and the rest of the team ran towards the exit to get angle of attack on the enemy.

"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage," said Kid Flash. He might have been an idiot, but he was still really smart. He just didn't want to show it in his words.

"I believe the expression is the tip of the iceberg," added Aqualad as they came up to the exit, but were stopped from exiting the tunnel by a large, hulking figure blocking their path. It turned out that the beast was instead Bane, who had gotten his hands on some of his Venom.

"Halt, _niños_. I'm feeling explosive," said Bane as he armed the explosives that were planted around the entrance of the cave, showing the heroes that he meant business.

"You betrayed us, why?" shouted Aqualad. He'd thought that, even though Bane was a criminal, their goals had aligned to make the man think twice about double crossing them, but apparently he was wrong.

"I want my factory back," said the Venom addict as he looked at the sidekicks for any excuse to detonate the explosives looming over their heads.

" _Kid, you'll need a running start,"_ said Aqualad through the mental link that M'gann had established while Bane continued his monologue.

"So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies, or die trying," Bane said, releasing a chuckle dripping with arrogance. "If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks…And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect." He was about to press the trigger when something zoomed past him, and he hit his own empty hand with his thumb.

"With what?" As Bane turned around, he saw Kid Flash looking at him with a small smirk, tossing the trigger up and down. "This trigger thingy?" the kid laughed.

Bane got angry and lunged at the young speedster, intent on smashing him into the ground where he would then pound the insolent pup into a bloody mess, but it was not to be, as he was suddenly picked up by Miss Martian's telekinetic abilities and then turned around in the air to face the rest of the team.

Superboy moved to stand under the Venom-addicted criminal. He smirked at Bane. "Finally…Drop him," he said.

M'gann dropped the criminal, and he landed straight into a massive punch, courtesy of Superboy. The team then moved Bane's body to a tree that was close to the cliff that overlooked the factory, where they tied him up and gave him a nice look to see his factory fall.

Afterward they gather to come up with a plan, when they heard a giant explosion followed immediately by the sound of gunfire. They looked down towards the factory to see what was going on, and were shocked to see that some of the forklifts used to carry the drug exploded, and that the cult followers were being thrown around by a figure that they recognized.

He wore a very familiar symbol on his back, and had bright blond hair. They quickly started to formulate a plan that would allow them to help their comrade.

 **Location: Bane's office**

While the rest of the heroes were exploring the Venom factory, Naruto had snuck into Bane's office, where he and his friend had been searching for any information they could find on Venom. Bane' office was lavish in design, showing that the Drug Lord had a lot of income. It was a large room, with a fine oak desk with a glass inside to display whatever Bane fancied be displayed there, a red leather chair, and a computer on the side.

He also saw that there was a large fish tank, big enough to drown at least three adult men without feeling cramped. Inside the tank, he could see small fish, and on closer inspection they turned out to be piranhas.

"It seems that Bane's sticking with the whole evil motif quiet well," said Naruto to his partner, and chuckled. He then moved towards the desk, sat in the chair, which he had to say was quite comfortable, and started to search through the files that were on Bane's computer, while his friend looked through the paper files that were in the drawers of the desk.

Naruto quickly checked the content of the files and then copied all the information that was useful to his flash drive, which had been provided to him by the Justice league. His attention was then diverted from the copying files to his partner, who he noticed was not there anymore.

As Naruto looked around, he saw him on top of the water tank that held the piranha. He saw his friend straighten up from a crouch, and in his hand he held one of the fish that had previously occupied the tank. The G-elf then raised the struggling fish over his head and opened his mouth.

"No, stop. Don't eat that…" Naruto said, which got him the attention of the monkey-like creature. It closed its mouth and looked at its companion with a look that almost screamed _why,_ which prompted Naruto to continue.

"Well it's just that you don't know where that's been, and you also can't just eat everything that looks appetizing to you."

That just made the G-elf lower its head in defeat, before it looked up with its best impression of a puppy dog face. To Naruto, that was something that made him rethink his decision, as right now, to him, the creature looked like a kicked puppy, and who could say with a straight face that they would not help such an animal?

He sighed. "Fine, you can eat it…but don't go crying to me when you get sick."

The G-elf made a face that was as close to a smile as its physiognomy would allow, before raising the fish over its head once more and dropping it into its awaiting mouth. It then happily chewed on the fish, smacking contentedly, while Naruto went back to searching for any information. He was about to search the content of the glass case when he heard the sounds of gunfire and destruction.

He quickly moved to the door of the office and moved to the outside, the G-elf following closely behind. As he came out of the office, he saw that the Kobra cultists were battling his teammates, but before he could help them, some more cultist surrounded him on both sides, pointing their guns at him.

He reacted quickly, growing his plates out of his skin, and charged at the group on his right. The two groups opened fire at the same time, but it did nothing as the bullets bounced off skin and flew in different directions.

As Naruto reached the first group, he started his assault. He grabbed the first thug and quickly broke his weapon in two before attacking his arms. He delivered a powerful, two-armed chop to both of the cultist's elbows, shattering them and bending the arms at an unnatural angle. Finally, he punched the cultist in the face, breaking his nose and knocking some teeth out of his mouth.

Once the thug fell to the floor, Naruto quickly moved to the others surrounding him, who stupidly continued to pour fire at him, even though they could clearly see that it did no damage. Naruto delivered a powerful kick to one of the thugs while punching another in the chest, sending them both into opposing walls, where they then crumbled to the floor.

This continued for the rest of the group, as Naruto systematically disabled his attackers. Once done, the only one still conscious was the one that had a broken leg and was currently screaming, clutching the shattered limb. The other group had stopped firing, shocked at how efficiently the young hero had dispatched their comrades, and some of them were even shaking from fear of what would happen to them.

Naruto looked down at the still screaming cultist, then simply stomped on his chest, knocking the air out of him, sending him straight into unconsciousness. Then, he turned to the rest of the cultists before sighing theatrically.

"Damn, he was annoying…" said Naruto, giving the survivors a meaningful look. "Now, who's next…" he said with a smirk beneath his plates and scarf.

The cultists shakily raised their weapons and were about to fire, but were suddenly stopped when a translucent image appeared behind the blond boy. It had the appearance of the blond, but was much larger, and towered over them all. Naruto then started to move forward, and as he moved, the beastly image released a giantic roar.

The cultist threw their guns at his feet, falling to their knees and putting their hands behind their heads. Naruto smirked at the display and felt a weight on his shoulder. He looked and saw that it was his first true friend, and that it had a large bundle of rope under one arm and duct tape in the other hand.

Naruto smirked as his scales receded, and he spoke. "Ha, what did you do, you little devil?" He saw the G-elf's horns glow, and it relayed its answer. Naruto burst into a fit of laughter.

After he got himself under control, he made the few cultist that remained conscious tie up the others, before tying each other, while Naruto tied the last one and checked the restraints, before putting duct tape over there mouths. After everything was done, he threw them all in a closet that was nearby.

As he returned, he saw that the other young heroes had escaped back into the tunnel, but in the process, had left him behind. Naruto was a little hurt, but he was used to it. With his escape route closed off, if the giant mammoth returning from the tunnel without his teammates was anything to go by, Naruto decided to go back to the office and see what else could be found there. He moved towards the desk once more, while his companion returned the fish tank.

Naruto saw that all the files he needed were downloaded to the flash drive, ejected the drive and pocketed it in his back pants pocket, while he focused on the glass case. He saw many objects inside, of different shapes and sizes. There was a broken batarang, an empty vial, as well as a white metal bracelet with button on it and a tube next to it.

Naruto removed the glass, noting that it was a bit heavier than normal, but it was no problem for him. He picked up the white metal device and examined it, concluding that it was a device that had been previously used to administer the Venom into Bane's system, but he must have traded up and used this one only as a possible backup if he lost the one he used now.

Then he suddenly remembered that every evil villain usually had a secret compartment to hide anything of greater value to them. He started to search for any hidden panels, or a button of some kind. He searched the whole room for a while, even looked under the chair, but there was nothing that could be found. He was about to give up, when he remember the one place he hadn't looked…under the table.

He quickly felt under the table with his hand and was pleased to find a button. He pressed it and suddenly he could hear a small click. A panel opened, and something fell into Naruto's awaiting hand.

He moved the item into the light, and saw that it was a vial of Venom. Seeing this, Naruto smirked, before he whistledm getting the attention of the G-elf, who was munching on another piranha. Naruto noted that there were very few piranha left inside the tank. He motioned for his companion to come over, and once the G-elf did, Naruto gave it the Venom and the injection device.

"Keep it safe while I try to get the attention of our team, and in the process, perhaps get a sample of that Kobra Venom or whatever it's called…"he said, and he remembered something that made him chuckle. "Damn, we were lucky that Bane's computer can access the others in the facility."

The G-elf nodded and jumped away to hide away so that it wouldn't get caught it the firefight that would no doubt happen once Naruto revealed himself to the enemy. Naruto then got a serious look on his face, seeing his friend run off.

He made the plates appear once more over his body as he left the office. Once outside, he saw two guards patrolling the area right below him. He smirked as he got on the top of the railing and waited for the right timing before he jumped. As the moment came, he jumped down, cracking the concrete floor beneath him as he landed, gaining the attention of the two guards as well as several in the facility.

He dashed towards the two closest gunmen, and once near enough, he smashed their heads together knocking them out. He heard a shout from behind, and he saw that the origin of the shout was a group of Kobra cultists, who opened fire upon him.

Naruto simply walked towards them with a calm expression on his face, 7.62 rounds pinging harmlessly off his armored form, while the cultist grew more and more panicked as their assault proved useless against their foe. As Naruto reached them, he simply gave each a quick and precise jab that knocked them into unconsciousness.

He did this for every group he encountered, and by the time he'd nearly reached the doors of the factory, he was quite bored. He didn't get the expected challenge he'd been silently craving.

However, what Naruto did not know was that he was about to get the challenge he craved. As he reached the doors, something landed a few feet away, kicking up a lot of dust. Once the cloud cleared, Naruto could see Mammoth standing there in his silent glory, his hands crossed over his prodigious chest, simply waiting for Naruto to make the first move.

At least that was the plan until Naruto spoke.

"So you're Mammoth? I was honestly expecting more from you - I guess we are all disappointed at one point in our lives…"Naruto disregarded the growl this statement, and continued. "Hmm, but I have to say that, while you may have some strength, you are still one of the ugliest freaks of nature I have ever seen, and I have spent my chilled hood with some _really_ ugly individuals, trust me."

This got the result that Naruto wanted, as Mammoth roared and charged at the armored teen. As the beast grew near, it readied a massive fist to punch, to knock the blond boy out or kill him, whichever. As it drew near, it saw that Naruto was not moving, and was standing in a relaxed stance, with his hands in his pockets.

Mammoth, not thinking anything of it, just threw the punch once he was in range, and struck the boy right in his jaw, knocking his feet from under him and dropping him to the ground. Mammoth smiled as he saw the blond's head snap backward and dent the concrete, then lay sprawling on the ground, not moving a muscle.

As he was about to turn around and return to his master, he heard a wheezing chuckle, which then turned into full-blown laughter. To Mammoth's shock, Naruto was laughing and _getting back up._ For a few critical moments, it didn't even occur to him to try and stop the boy from getting back up.

Once Naruto was back on his feet, he looked at Mammoth straight in the eyes.

"Hah, hah - I see you're taking this seriously after all…let me return the favor."

He charged at the beast and delivered a powerful punch to the side of Mammoth's cheek that made the creature stumble back. Once Mammoth got his footing back, he looked at Naruto, rubbing his jaw. Naruto then charged at the beast and Mammoth did the same, as they drew closer, they both cocked back their right hands back and prepared to release them.

Their knuckles smashed together like two colliding freight trains, releasing a small shock wave. They then both fought for dominance, but soon saw that this was going nowhere, and disengaged. Mammoth tried a different approach, a double arm attack in attempt to crush the blond. However, it backfired as Naruto used his agility to dodge the assault and get behind the beast. He then locked his arms around the beast's stomach, dug his feet in the ground, and used his impressive strength to lift Mammoth off of the ground and deliver a crushing suplex, dropping Mammoth directly on his neck.

As Naruto got back on his feet, he saw that Mammoth was slowly rising off of the ground and appeared to be only momentarily stunned. That was enough for Naruto, however, who picked up a forklift that had overturned during their initial clash, and used it to smash Mammoth's face in.

The only effect it seemed to be having was leaving an imprint of the monster's face on the side of the forklift.

Naruto looked at the imprint and the shrugged. "Hmm, look at that. I think I just created a masterpiece!" He then looked at it again, and then at Mammoth before chuckling. "Well, you did most of the work so... I guess you can HAVE IT!" Shouting, he threw it at Mammoth, who had finally risen to his feet, and his eyes widened when he saw a forklift with an imprint of what seemed to be his face heading straight for him.

He had no time to react. It smashed into him and he was sent flying. Once he and the forklift landed, the forklift's abused engine had finally had enough insults, and it suddenly exploded and knocked Mammoth even further away, where he landed a few feet away from his master.

Kobra, Sportsmaster and the cultists watched in shock as their greatest weapon was just defeated. They all looked at where Mammoth had come from, and saw through the fire a shadow that then turned into a person. Kobra then spoke up once the boy came in sight.

"Who are you, and how dare you stand against a God!" he shouted, but he did not receive the response he was expecting.

"Sorry, I'm an atheist…" the boy said with a smirk hidden behind his plates and scarf. "But since I do quite like the myths of the Greek Gods, how about you prove it? How about you show me who's stronger, God or TITAN!" His eyes started to glow a bit brighter, as if the sun were rising in them, and smoke started to rise from his body in long streamers.

Kobra saw this as a challenge to his Godhood, so he stepped forward, letting his cloak fall to the ground like a wrestler preparing to jump into the ring. But before he continued on, he turned to Sportsmaster.

"Take the shipment while I deal with this insect," Kobra snapped.

Before Sportsmaster could reach the helicopter, he was stopped by a figure that had fallen from the sky. Once it stood up, he saw the red S shield on its chest, indicating that he was facing Superboy.

"Let's go, coach," said Superboy, smirking as he got in a fighting stance.

Sportsmaster looked around and saw his cultist backup getting knocked to the ground by a speeding figure. It stopped at one of the cultist, examining the mask that he had taken off of the cultist. This was Kid Flash, who had a happy expression on his freckled face.

"Cool, a souvenir!" he said, and sped off.

Aqualad had suddenly appeared behind some cultists and attacked them with whips that he had made with his water bearers. Seeing that they were getting pushed back, Shimmer was about to run back to her master to warn him and try to convince him to retreat, but was stopped from doing so by Robin dropping down in front her.

As Robin stood from his crouching position, he smirked at Shimmer before getting into a fighting stance and gave her a come and get it motion with his hand. "Round two."

Shimmer screamed in rage and charged at the young Boy Wonder.

As the heroes continued to fight, Naruto turned back to the self-proclaimed god and saw that the man still stood there with his arms crossed, a neutral look on his face. Naruto smirked and got in a fighting stance of his own. "Now, where were we?"

He charged the supposed God and went for a simple, yet effective right hook, but Kobra somehow managed to evade it, and was shocked as he saw the fist that had barely missed him make contact with the ground and shatter it. Kobra had no time to think further, as Naruto used the momentum from his punch to spin his leg around in attempt to hit Kobra straight in the face. No luck there, either, as Kobra kept evading his strikes.

This continued for a while, as Naruto just continued to attack, while Kobra dodged his attacks, but Naruto had noticed that Kobra was getting sloppier, maybe even a little tired, and he knew that if he got one good shot in, he could finish it, so devised a plan that was stupid yet effective.

He charged Kobra, and once close enough, he went for a wide strike, leaving his chest and face exposed. Kobra saw the opening and took advantage, ducked under the fist before kicking the boy in the knee, which made it buckle, and then following it up with a strike to the chest and a quick open palm blow to his opponent's chin.

Time seemed to slow down as the strike tipped Naruto back, and it appeared that he was defeated, but just as he was going to fall he stomped his right leg behind him, steadying himself, and then with a quick move that was almost impossible to see, he grabbed the pretend God by the neck and lifted him off of the ground and then brought him close to his face.

Naruto opened his mouth, releasing a large amount of steam directly into Kobra's face. "I…win."

He did a quick spin and threw Kobra into the jungle, where he crashed through multiple trees and fell to the ground. Naruto was about to go after him when he was interrupted by an explosion that happened in the air, and he could see that it was the chopper that had previously escaped. He turned around and saw that all the thugs were defeated by the other members of the team.

Then he looked back at where Kobra had previously been and he saw that he had disappeared. Naruto shrugged at the stupid God-pretender and walked towards the team, who had gathered all the bad guys and tied them up, although Mammoth was tied with a couple of metal beams.

As Naruto approached the other members of the team, he could hear them talking.

"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin said, but was cut off by Naruto, who decided to jump in at this time.

"Oh, so you two idiots finally got off your high horses long enough to elect Aqualad the leader?"

He received two glares from Robin and Kid Flash.

"Hey, where have you been all this time, and why did you suddenly attack the bad guys alone?" shouted Kid Flash, getting right in Naruto's face, who just got an annoyed look.

"First off, get the fuck away from my face. Second, I was searching for anything that could help us with the mission. _Third,_ I attacked so that you guys could see where I was after we got separated _when you escaped and I was held up_ , and fourth and finally, if you ever get in my face again, I will knock your teeth out…Got it?" As he finished, he gave a glare to Kid Flash before looking back at Kaldur.

Robin gathered his composure before he looked at Aqualad, then he smirked and spoke.

"As I was saying, this automatically makes you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman." He started to laugh as he walked away while Kaldur looked down in thought.

 **Location: Mount Justice August 4** **; 01:06 EDT**

"A simple recon mission, observe and report," said Batman as he walked in front of the line of heroes that had been on the Santa Prisca mission. "You'll each receive a written evaluation Detailing your many mistakes."

The young heroes, except Naruto, looked down in shame.

"Until then, good job." Batman turned around to face the heroes. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success," he said as the heroes gained proud smiles on their faces, "and how you choose who leads determines character." Robin and Aqualad's smiles became even brighter.

With his debriefing finished, Batman left, while the young heroes chatted amongst themselves. Naruto, however, moved away as his friend jumped on to his shoulders. Naruto looked at him and said, "Did you get it?"

In response, the G-elf raised his tail, showing Naruto a vial of purple liquid, which brought a smile to Naruto's face. With his question answered, he and the G-elf walked towards their room to do some work on the new, and old, projects they had.

 **Location: Unknown**

"All I recovered is a single ampoule of Kobra Venom," said Sportsmaster as he stood in front of multiple computer screens. 

"Peut-etre the drug can be reverse engineered," said one of the blurred images on the screens in a heavy French accent. "Mais, what of our young heroes? First, Cadmus, then mister Twister.  
Now, Santa Prisca."

"Once is happenstance…Twice is coincidence…But three times is enemy action, and enemies of the Light must not stand..." said another voice in a much deeper voice then the first.

 _ **TO BE COUNTINUED? (yes)**_

 **Okay, done! Finally! This one just kept on dragging out, and I had a lot of shit happening at the same time, so I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **R &R **

**Till next time, true believers! (wait, no, wrong company!)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Normal talk"

" _Thought_ "

" ** _Hologram, communicator & video link"_**

 **AMAZO BE AMAZED**

 **Location: Metropolis, August 3; 07:38 EDT**

In the early morning, we see the hardworking people of Metropolis moving along to get to their jobs using various modes of transportation. On one of the Metropolis bridges, a bright yellow bus could be seen, driving the younger generation to school. They were stuck in some milling traffic that was normal for most big cities.

Their drive was interrupted as something started to shake the bridge, which in turn destabilized the bridge's structural integrity. The bridge could not take the force and started to collapse. On the road, the concrete started to crack, while the cables that supported the bridge snapped like guitar strings and fell onto incoming traffic.

The drivers panicked and tried to evade the destruction, and some at the end and the beginning of the bridge were able to escape, but the ones in the middle were not so lucky. They had to evade the falling cables, and they had no way to go as the cracks got large enough that no car could cross them.

The bus full of kids was having the worst luck, as their driver panicked and turned the bus left and then lost control as he moved too fast to stop, and they crashed against the side barricade, where they hung in a fragile balance that dictated whether they would live or die.

Gravity, always with its skull-faced grin, decided on death, and the bus moved slowly over to its tipping point.

Out of nowhere, a blue and red blur flew by them, and suddenly the bridge started to rise back up. Under the bridge, we can find our blue-and-red-clad boyscout fixing the bridge with his heat vision. However, he was suddenly stopped when he felt a large force come crashing on the bridge above.

Up above, we find the young Kryptonian jumping on the bridge to get to the people in danger faster. As he reached the cars that were about to slide off to their doom, he used his strength to move them from the sides of the bridge and stopped the cars, and by proxy, the people inside. He then reached the yellow school bus that was on the verge of collapsing and was thus in the most danger.

Superboy grabbed the back of bus and dug his fingers into the metal, started to pull. That was when a piece of the bridge crumbled underneath the bus, making it tip forward, pulling Superboy along with him.

Superboy was half-Kryptonian, and this meant that he also had the famous Kryptonian stubbornness. He would not give in and he would not stop. However, for all his strength, the bus started to slip away from him as the very metal he held in his hands started to rip apart.

Suddenly, he was able to lift the bus as if it weighed nothing. As if that wasn't enough, the bus was then ripped from his hands, and as it floated up into the air, casting a shadow over him, Superboy looked up and saw that under the bus, holding it up, was Superman himself.

As Superman lowered the bus safely to the ground, Superboy got in his face.

"I _had_ that," he said, angry that his _father_ 'd interfered with his rescue attempt. However, what he received was a serious look on the man of steel's face.

"I didn't want to take the chance," said Superman, with a subtle angry undertone that showed that he did not approve of Superboy's methods of heroism. "As it is, your landing could have destabilized the entire bridge."

Superboy crossed his hands over his chest, admitting no foul. "It didn't."

"But it could have…we don't yet know the limits of your powers," said the Kryptonian, and he looked a bit uncomfortable at the end of the his answer, as he had not yet come to terms that he basically had a son. He was pulled from his thoughts by Superboy speaking once more.

"But maybe you could, you know, help me figure that out," said the clone as he looked up hopefully, thinking that he might be able to connect with the closest thing he had to a family.

That hope was quickly extinguished as the man of steel spoke once more.

"Batman's got that covered," said the Kryptonian, with a cold look on his face showing that there was no way to get him to change his mind, but he did not count on the stubbornness that Kryptonians were known for.

"I know, but-" Before the young man could continue, he was stopped by Superman putting his hand up and putting two fingers to his ear.

"Superman here…wait, Arrow, slow down." His face looked shocked as he received the information from his comrade. "What's attacking?" he said as he looked towards Superboy for a moment before looking away again. "No, I'm definitely available…Coordinates? Acknowledged…On my way."

He then turned awkwardly to Superboy. "Sorry, Superboy…Duty calls," he said as he then flew away towards the emergency, not seeing Superboy looking after him with a sad look that was quickly replaced by anger and disappointment.

However, not far away, we find a man standing inside a big office in a building with a name synonymous with one of the most dangerous cities in the world, where the corrupt push down the weak and take whatever they want…but it also known for another reason, for their everpresent Dark Knight, who would do anything to bring the people that do wrong to justice…this city was Gotham, and the name on the building was Wayne.

The man was a tall Caucasian male with a dark and imposing figure, short black hair, and dark brown eyes. He wore an expensive suit and designer shoes that spoke of his wealth. This man was none other than Gotham's prodigal son, Bruce Wayne. He was currently on a private phone linked to a special server. He heard a voice come through the phone.

"Already got the alert, Bruce," spoke the blue and red clad hero as Bruce could see him flying away. However, Mr. Wayne was not one for small talk, so he got straight to the point.

"I know, Clark, but we need to talk," he said, then hung up the phone before turning towards his desk, where a drawer was open, and inside was a costume with a bat symbol on it. Bruce released a sigh before he closed the drawer and got back to his work and put the mission in someone else's hands for now.

 **Location: Mount Justice, August 3; 13:06 EDT**

We find our young heroes in the main room of the mountain, using the holographic trainer for some fun. Aqualad and Kid Flash could be seen playing a game of glow hockey, while Robin and M'gann were watching the match. Suddenly, the puck crashed into Aqualad's goal, and a screen appeared with the words KID FLASH WINS on it.

Aqualad growled in irritation as he saw that Kid Flash was playing with one hand while eating a banana with the other. They were just about to play again when the zeta tube flashed, while the computer for it came alive.

"Recognized, Superboy," it said as the figure of Superboy appeared and started to walk towards his room with an angry look in his face.

M'gann did not notice the look on his face, and just remained her ever cheerful self as she greeted her not-so-hidden crush. "Hi, Superboy, how was Metropolis?"

Superboy, walking straight through the holographic projection and continuing to his destination, ignored her.

M'gann was about to follow him when she heard a clearing of the throat, and she turned around to see two people coming towards them.

The first was an attractive young woman, with long blonde hair, blue eyes and a slender yet toned build. She wore a very distinctive costume, which consisted of a black, one-piece bustier-leotard combination, gray stockings with seams up the front and back, and black, heavy calf-length boots on her feet. She finished off the look with black fingerless gloves that went past her elbows to the biceps, a blue jacket, and to put the finishing touch on it all, she wore a black choker around her neck.

The second was a man, if you could call him that. He was a tall, green-skinned humanoid, his head completely bald, and his face oddly proportioned, with heavy brows, thick lips and red eyes. His costume was primarily black with red accents, and a large red belt and x-shaped straps across his chest. He also wore a blue cape that was fastened by gold clips.

The young woman spoke up as soon as she had moved close enough for the young heroes to hear her. "Ready for training, everyone?"

She looked at every member of the team, inspecting them, her tactical mind going through different scenarios that could happen in this meeting. However, her attention was diverted back to the young green-skinned girl who ran towards the man that was standing next to the blond woman.

"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!" the girl said as she hugged her uncle with a happy smile on her face.

As they parted, J'onn spoke.

"M'gann, I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting," he said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"A few bumps, but I'm learning," said the young Martian girl as she looked at her uncle.

The older Martian smiled. "That's all I can ask." They then continued to make smalltalk.

Canary then looked around once more and saw that Superboy was leaving the main room. "Stick around, class is in session," she told him. Superboy looked at the woman and grudgingly moved back to his teammates.

"First, let me say that I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you… Everything I've learned from my own mentors-uh!" she stopped for a moment as she took off her jacket, brushing against her bicep that was bandaged and had a small amount of blood on it, "and from my own bruises."

"What happened?" asked M'gann in a concerned voice as she looked at the wound on Black Canary's shoulder. The veteran hero looked at the injury, then back at the Martian and gave a small smile to comfort the Martian girl.

"The job. Now, before I continue this lesson, I would like to know where the last member of this team is hiding, as it would be unfair to deprive him of what he may learn today."

The three members that had been in the mountain for the majority of the day looked at each other, and then looked at Black Canary once more. It was then that Aqualad stepped forward and put his hands behind his back, straightening like a solider in a show of respect to their superior.

"Well…Well, we don't know…"

 **Location: Washington DC, August 3; 13:35 EDT**

In the Capital of one the most powerful countries in the world, we can see a special ceremony being held. In a lavish building, we find a party being thrown and a lot of very important people have gathered for this festivity.

Then, the people's attention was pulled from their mingling, and diverted to the stage that had been set up, as the mayor of the City walked onto the stage. She was African-American, in her early forties, with short black hair and green colored eyes. She wore a simple sleeveless red dress that reached just below her knees and showed off an impressive figure for her age.

She walked towards the microphone and tapped it once or twice before she moved a bit closer and leaned on the podium.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen - we are gathered here to celebrate the accomplishments of a man that we all know and love…This man is responsible for many things that have made this city better. With his help, we were able to rebuild after the many battles caused by those who try to go outside the law, and were luckily stopped by the heroes of the Justice League. However, while the work our heroes do to stop these individuals is honorable, it is the ordinary heroes, like the man we are honoring today, that are the real heroes! Heroes who help the people in need after the crisis has passed! Now, please welcome the man that helped this city in its time of need… Victor Mazarin!"

As she and the audience started to clap, a Caucasian man stepped on to the stage. He was quite well built, as you could see it through the expensive suit he wore, had short brown hair and blue eyes. As he got up to the podium, he hugged the mayor and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then turned towards the people that had gathered at the party.

"Well…where to start? This is one of the proudest moments in my life…I won't take up much of your time, so I'll just say that this could not be possible if the good people of this city had not come together in this city's time of need, so this award is not just mine, it also belongs to each and every one of you that helped in the rebuilding, in helping anyone in need… so thank you all," he said as he raised the award above his head and gave a million dollar smile while the people started to cheer and clap loudly.

No one in that room would have believed that there was another person watching the event with cold and dispassionate eyes. On a roof that should have been out of range for any man-portable firearm, a man was currently lying on his stomach, a high powered sniper rifle in his hands.

He wore a red suit with a lot of armor plating, as well as a white mask that had some sort of goggle over his right eye. He also had a pair of silenced, wrist-mounted 9mm cannons on his forearms.

He smirked as he looked through the scope of the sniper rifle and put his finger on the trigger preparing to fire.

"Easy money…" he whispered.

Before he made a conscious decision to pull the trigger, he suddenly rolled to the side, dodging instinctively and without understanding why, as a massive something came crashing down on the spot where he had previously been. The man leapt to his feet and moved further away to get some distance from his attacker. As the dust cleared from the first attack, the assassin finally saw who was trying to assault him.

The first thing he saw was a large symbol of a shield with two wings crossed over it on the back of his attackers brown jacket. Then, he made out a young man, no older than fifteen, with blond hair and wearing a skintight black T-shirt with the same shield-and-wings design emblazoned on his left peck. The kid also wore baggy black pants that were taped at the ankles by medical tape that also covered his feet – _strange,_ the assassin thought, _his feet are bare -_ and biker gloves on his hands. To finish off the look he'd wrapped a scarf around his neck, concealing the lower part of his face.

As the kid turned around to face the man, he spoke.

"Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, we need to talk…" The kids eyes, Deadshot noticed, were very cold. It didn't impress him much – he had faced many cold men before, men who thought they were hard, and every one of them was dead now.

"What do you want, kid? Are you playing _hero?_ " He chuckled, aiming his sniper rifle at the young man. "Or maybe you have a death wish, seeing as you know who I am and what I'm capable of."

"No, I have no death wish… I may be a hero, but right now, I need information that you might able to provide," said the young man, narrowing his eyes at Deadshot. "Also, don't call me kid. If you must call me something, call me Sentinel." He crossed his hands over his chest. "Now, I want everything you know about a particular person… who has been off the radar for quite some time now." Seeing that he got Deadshot's attention, he continued. "Now, tell me what you know about Kushina Uzumaki."

Naruto saw Deadshot hesitate for a second, as if he'd remembered something about that name, but then the assassin quickly composed himself and straightened, aiming his rifle straight at the blond boy's head.

"I don't know anything about whoever that is. Now get lost before I put a bullet straight through your skull," Deadshot said, weighing whether or not he felt annoyed enough yet to kill the young man regardless of whether he tried to leave now.

However, he was surprised that instead of looking terrified, or even a narrowing of the eyes, the boy started to laugh. He continued for almost an entire minute, during which Deadshot got progressively more and more angry at his insolence, before he got himself under control, then looked at Deadshot once more and his face turned serious.

"Very well, you can shoot me right here," Naruto said, tapping twice on his own forehead. "But remember, if you miss, I will and break every bone in your body until you give me the information I seek. So what I'm saying is, _don't miss_ -"

He was suddenly cut off as a deafening bang filled the room. His neck snapped back violently from the force of the bullet, and the boy swayed in place on his feet.

Deadshot smirked at the teen, not paying any mind that the dead guy was still standing.

"I never miss, kid," he said and turned around to leave, seeing that this chance to assassinate Victor Mazarin was gone, but before he could continue, he was stopped by a sudden weight on his shoulder.

He froze, then slowly turned around to see the blond boy there, but he was different than before - he had some kind of plates covering his body, including his face. The boy opened his mouth to speak, and steam gushed out, into Deadshot's face.

" _You missed._ "

Deadshot's eyes widened as he spun around, dropped his sniper rifle and started to unload shot after shot from his wrists into the kid's chest, not noticing that he was not doing any damage beyond putting holes in Sentinel's shirt. When he'd unloaded every single bullet he had in the wrist mounted-cannons, he looked at what he'd achieved, and only then saw that the shirt and jacket had a lot of holes in them, but there was no blood coming out.

Sentinel then looked at his shirt and jacket, smoke still rising in thin tendrils from the bulletholes, before looking at Deadshot once more.

"THAT was my favorite jacket and you ruined IT!" he shouted as he walked towards Deadshot, who fell on his ass as he watched this kid turn into a monster, as an aura appeared around him and a giant beast roared at him, making him nearly piss himself.

All that was heard from there on were the tortured screams of man in more pain that you can imagine.

 **Location: Washington DC, August 3; 14:05 EDT**

We can now find Naruto standing on the edge of the building, watching the traffic go by, when he suddenly heard his communicator buzz.

"Sentinel, here what is the situation?" said Naruto as he pressed the button on his earpiece.

" _ **Naruto, finally! Where are you? Canary came here for training and found out you didn't tell anyone where you were, and she went**_ **ballistic,** _ **then told us to track you down, we have be trying to reach you for an hour now …get back here now, before she gets the league involved,"**_ Robin said/shouted over the com as he expressed how serious the situation was.

"I was doing something so on my own, so don't worry, and I was busy so I couldn't answer the call. Besides it's none of her, or the league's, business what I do on my time," Naruto said and turned off the comm. He faced the man he was previously engaged in combat with.

Deadshot had seen better days, bleeding profusely, one of his arms bent at an unnatural angle. Naruto looked at the man, smirking under his scarf, and said, "Thanks for the information - I will be sure to pay the man you mentioned a visit."

He had what he wanted, so he took the fire escape to ground level, where a black and red, heavily modified 2016 Suzuki GSX-S1000 ABS awaited him. Naruto had been given this bike when he joined the team, for transportation, and he'd seen the potential in it, so he diverted some attention from his other projects to work on it, which had paid off handsomely in the end.

His other projects had not been so successful, and he hadn't made much progress in those fields. The only thing he'd got to work so far was a design for a tornado mine that would release a small scale tornado which could allow for a distraction, or serve as a surprise attack on the enemy.

He'd been able to make quite a few changes to Venom, but it still wasn't working to his satisfaction. Despite all its benefits, it also had a big effect on the person using it, was ten times more addictive as before, and any user could only go so long before he was so addicted that he would have had to take a fresh dose every hour, or else go into extreme withdrawal, thus making him weak, not to mention it could kill if the subject overused it.

As he reached the bike, he saw the G-elf sitting there, patiently waiting for him to return. He smiled at his companion, scratching it under its chin.

"I'm sorry it took so long, but our friend wasn't very cooperative, and it took longer to persuade him to help me than I expected," Naruto said as he mounted the bike and started it up, while the G-elf grabbed onto his back, and with that, they sped off towards the nearest zeta tube.

While he was driving, he called 911. He had to wait several minutes to talk to a real person, but he finally got someone on the line.

" _ **911, what's your emergency**_?" came a woman's voice over the line, in the typical voice of a emergency line worker.

"Yes, I heard gunshots fired and some screaming as I was passing by Holiday Inn Washington DC-Central/White house, I believe someone's been shot! I think it happened on a roof opposite to the hotel, you have to help!" Sentinel said, faking his panic so as to seem that dispatch was talking to just a terrified citizen instead of a _hero_.

" _ **Don't worry, sir, you just get to safety, we will dispatch the paramedics immediately,**_ " said the female voice as she cut off the call, no doubt to get the ambulance to the location he had given them. With that done, and the gun for hire safe, Sentinel continued on to his destination.

 **Location: Mount Justice, August 3; 14:35 EDT**

The sidekicks in Mount Justice had once again gathered in the main room with Black Canary and the Martian Manhunter as they waited for the final member of the team.

Canary was not happy about it. She thought that the team should have known the whereabouts of every member of the team. She thought that it was unethical to just up and leave, when you could be seriously injured, and perhaps even killed.

Everyone's attention was diverted to the zeta tube as the computer recognition program came to life, announcing their visitor.

" _ **Recognized: Sentinel B06,"**_ spoke the program as the image of the blond hero could be seen coming out of the teleporter. The blond didn't greet his teammates or the two heroes of the League. He moved along towards the vehicle bay, ignoring the other people present in the room.

He was stopped by someone stepping in his path. Black Canary stepped in front of him and refused to move.

"What do you want?" asked Naruto as he looked at the blonde female in front of him.

"WHERE WERE YOU…You left without telling the rest of the team or your supervisor!" she shouted at him as she saw the holes in his jacket, and how many there were.

"I don't need to tell you anything about what I do when I'm off the clock…so get out of my way," he said as he tried to move forward, but was stopped by Canary once more, as she examined his jacket.

"What happened to you – are those bullet holes? What were you doing to get those?" she said as she looked him straight in the eyes.

Naruto ignored her and tried to push forward, but he was not expecting Canary to suddenly grab him by the back of his collar and flip him so that he landed face-first onto the ground. As he slowly got up, he looked at Canary with anger in his eyes, to which she responded with a smirk on her face.

"Class is in session," she said as she moved towards the center of the room and the floor under her lit up, showing that match had started. Naruto rose to his feet, walked towards the ring, and got in a kick boxer stance.

Canary's face turned serious as her eyes narrowed.

"Now, combat is about controlling conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting," she said as Naruto charged her and threw a powerful right hook. Canary used this to her advantage, leveraging his momentum to throw him over her shoulder, where he landed on his back.

Before the computer could relay the winner, he was already back on his feet and charging once more. They started a fierce a battle that showed no clear victor at first, however, after some time, everyone could see that Naruto was slowing down. On closer inspection, the rest of the team could see what was really happening.

Canary was using her mastery of combat to disable Naruto, striking certain chosen points on his body, disabling his ability to move his limbs effectively. It all ended with one powerful punch from Canary to Naruto's stomach that made him stop dead in his tracks as he spit out saliva.

Naruto stood there for a couple of minutes with wide eyes, frozen in place. He then crumbled to the floor and onto his knees, where he stayed.

Canary, seeing that he was not getting back up, turned around towards the others. "Now, who's next to try their luck?"

Kid Flash was about to step up when Naruto rose up with a look of anger in his eyes. Canary only saw that Kid Flash had frozen up and that he had stopped moving. She saw that he was not looking at her but behind her, and her eyes widened as she turned around to meet Naruto's already wound-up punch, which clocked her directly in the face.

She fell down hard, a big red mark on her cheek.

"I wasn't done," Naruto said as he got his anger under control and then left toward his bike and walked out of the room.

The other heroes were shocked that there teammate had done this. However, their attention was again diverted to their instructor, who had risen from the floor while rubbing her cheek, but the surprising thing was, she had a small smile on her face.

"That was quite a good right hook, just needs a little work." She said the last part more to herself than anyone else. She then adjusted her focus to the rest of the team present. "As I was saying, I need a sparring partner."

Kid Flash immediately moved forward, raising his hand while eating his banana.

"Right here," he said as he finished his last bite. "Yeah! After this-" he paused to throw the banana peel into a trashcan, "- Swish- I'll show you my moves." He said it with his best flirting smile, which was ignored by Canary and received an eye roll from the other members of the team as they watched Kid flash and Canary with interest.

Canary suddenly smirked and threw a strong right hook that was barely stopped by Kid Flash, but he had no time to move to the offensive as Canary moved, swiftly struck multiple points on his body, and then used a low kick that took Kid Flash's feet from under him as a finish.

As he came crashing down hard, the sensors on the computer showed that he had lost. "Aah! Uh! Ohh, hurts so good," he said, he had barley any strength in him to raise his head.

"Good block," said Canary as she helped Kid Flash to his feet, then looked at the others once more. "But did anyone see what he did wrong?" she asked the other members of the young hero team.

"Ooh, ooh. He hit on teacher and got served?" came the somewhat childish answer from the young Boy Wonder.

"Dude!" shouted the red headed speedster. The blonde heroine ignored their squabble as she continued her previous train of thought. "He allowed me to dictate the terms of-"

Canary was interrupted by Superboy as he made his opinion on the mater be known.

"Oh, please. With my powers, the battle's always on my terms," he said as he looked at his hand and then balled it into a fist then once more looking at Canary. "I'm a living weapon, besides, Sentinel already proved that he could beat you, he was just holding back because he didn't want it to be too easy, and he has enough power to stop someone as strong as me or even stronger, so what I'm saying is that this is a waste of my time." He was prepared to leave, but the voice of the blonde crimefighter stopped him in his tracks.

"Prove it," she said with a smirk. They both got into their fighting stances and prepared to do battle. Superboy threw a powerful punch, however, it was dodged by Canary, who used his imbalance to throw him over her shoulder, where he landed on the ground…hard.

"Ha ha ha! _Ha ha ha ha!_ " Robin's laughter could be heard as he found great amusement in the fact that Superboy was getting his ass handed to him. The laughter was only muffled once Aqualad elbowed him in the shoulder, which had the desired effect of getting him to cover his mouth with his hands.

As Superboy rose to his hands and knees, he heard Canary speak.

"You're angry. Good, but don't react, channel that anger into-" She was interrupted by Superboy charging at her, which was exactly what she'd expected him to do. She was able to flip over him, then, with a quick sweep of the leg, Superboy found himself on the ground once more.

As he got up, Canary tried to help him, but he pushed her off, saying "That's it. I'm done."

"Training is mandatory," countered Canary but just as they were about to get into a heated argument, a screen appeared in front of the whole team, and on it was a stoic face of the Dark Knight himself.

" _ **Batman to the cave**_ ," he said as he got the team's attention. " _ **Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary.**_ " It showed the two heroes fighting an android of some kind and getting slowly pushed back, however, what shocked the team was that the android was able to duplicate Canary's signature scream. " _ **The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents**_ ," spoke Batman with a cold tone in his voice. " _ **Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant**_ ," finished the Caped Crusader.

"Whoa. One guy with the powers of the entire League?" said a shocked Kid Flash as he observed the screen, which showed the android using multiple abilities to fight of the League.

" _ **In the end, it took 8 Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android,**_ " said the Dark Knight as he looked at the present team. 

"An android?" said a shocked Robin as he moved forward. "Who made it, T.O. Morrow?"

" _ **Good guess, Robin,**_ " continued Batman as he continued the train of thought of his protégée. " _ **But Red Tornado doesn't think so**_."

"The technology bears the signature of professor Ivo," said Martian Manhunter as he filled in the blanks for the present members of the team.

"Ivo? But Ivo's dead," said Aqualad, shocked to find out this information.

"So we all thought," spoke up Black Canary as she looked over her shoulder at Aqualad. "Or hoped," she finished as she once again focused on Batman.

" _ **To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R. lab facilities in Boston And New York for immediate evaluation,**_ " said Batman as the screen showed the routes that the trucks would be taking. " _ **Every precaution is being taken. We'll have 4 additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains,**_ " he said with a serious tone that was a bit stronger than his normal one. " _ **You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks**_."

"Yes! Road trip!" said Kid flash with a happy smile on his face as he pumped his fist in the air. However, another member of the team was not pleased at the thought of this mission.

"So now we take out your trash?" asked Superboy with a snarl as he looked at the Dark Knight, but Batman did not react, just remained calm and answered Superboy with a question of his own.

" _ **You had something better to do?**_ "

This made Superboy shut up and look away, pulling himself into his own thoughts.

"Coordinates received," came the sudden voice of Aqualad as he looked at the veteran heroes before looking at Batman. "On our way."

Superboy prepared to leave when he was stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist. As he turned, he saw that it was Black Canary.

"When you're ready, I'll be here," she said as she let go of his arm and let him be on his way.

As she watched the young clone leave, Black Canary remembered the final member of the team that was not present. She decided to fill him in and get him to the starting location of the trucks. As she searched for him, she came upon a training room that had a lot of weight lifting equipment, as well as training dummies and boxing bags.

While the weights were intact, the bags and the dummy were not in very good shape, lying on the ground in shambles, holes in some places while sand fell out of the bags. She then looked around and saw a shirtless Naruto looking at a screen, a towel draped around his neck as he talked to Batman. Canary saw that this boy was chiseled and showed a body that most men would dream about having, and women would dream of having a man with that kind of body, but Canary was not focused on that - what she was focused on was the large scar he had tracing down his spine. She was shocked that he could even walk after receiving such an injury.

She waited and listened in on the conversation, and it seemed that Batman had just finished explaining the mission to the young hero.

"Now we need you to suit up and catch up to your team-" however, the Dark Knight was interrupted by one simple word spoken from Naruto's mouth.

"No…" he said as he crossed his hand over his chest.

"What did you say?" asked Batman as he was honestly shocked that he would refuse to do this.

"I said NO, I'm not your clean up crew, and I won't pick up your trash…so that being said, piss off, I have better things to do than be someone's delivery boy - let the others do it if they want." Naruto shut off the screen and walked to one of the machines, if you wanted to use that word for a simple pull-up bar with one distinctive difference; it had different levels to move up on with the bar.

Naruto put the bar at the lowest and prepared to do his workout, but was stopped by Canary storming in and getting right into his face, poking his chest.

"What are you thinking? How could you not go with your team, what if they need you!" she shouted as she continued to poke his chest. Naruto did not budge and just looked at her with his eyes narrowed.

"I don't pick up your trash, and if they want to do it, they can but I signed up for one reason and one reason only - I want to find my mother. So back off!" he said as he pushed her back. "As for them getting in trouble, if that happens and they need my help, I have a friend listening in on the frequency their communicators are on, so if they need me, I will be there." He turned away and was about to start his workout when Canary spoke again, interrupting him once more.

"Where did you get that scar?" she asked as she examined the discolored flesh and moved closer to touch it. Before she could, she was stopped from doing so by Naruto, who grabbed her hand and faced her fully with a look of anger on his face. He then let her go and moved back a few steps.

"You'd better go, or else something may happen that you won't like," he said as he was preparing to workout and clear his head.

However, Canary was not one to take a threat laying down, as she spoke once more. "Hey, was that threat..." she said as Naruto suddenly froze up and just stood there.

Canary was about to ask again when suddenly, her danger senses started to blare, and she saw plates start to rise from beneath Naruto's skin. She was shocked as she saw closely how the plates covered his body and steam started to rise from the cracks and joins. He then turned around, spinning on the balls of his feet, and used Canary's shock to his advantage as he grabbed her by the neck and looked at her with a cold look in his eyes.

Black Canary could see the rage hidden behind those eyes, a rage that was just waiting to come to the surface, just as a volcano, wanting to break through and release its pent up energy. But while there was a lot of anger, she saw something more in those eyes and what she saw was shocking yet expected. She saw great sadness that was being pushed down by the rage so that boy – no, man – could move forward and not just fade away.

She was pulled from her thoughts by Naruto releasing steam right into her face and speaking in a mix of a feral growl and his normal voice. " _No, that was a warning,_ " he said as he let her go and let his form recede back to his human form.

He then walked to the pull-up bar and started the workout he was previously going to do and started to do his pull-ups. Once he did ten on one level, he used his strength to move the bar up mid-pull-up, and this pattern continued for about three levels, when he was stopped by Canary's voice.

"I see now, I understand…" she said, rubbing her throat. "Thank you for showing me, even though you did it unintentionally…"

Naruto paused mid-pull-up as his eyes widened at what he may have revealed to the woman, and while he didn't believe that he could have revealed that much, he still knew she had some knowledge in the art of the psychoanalyst, thus, he didn't quite know what he might have given away.

"You are hurting inside," she said, making him nearly lose is grip on the bar, "and you don't want to let it out, don't want to show weakness, and you've learned to not show that in front of anyone…"

Naruto continued to do his workout wordlessly. "But know this, you don't have to bottle it up, and know that if you ever need it, I'm here," she finished as she moved away and exited the room.

Naruto then let go of the bar letting himself fall to the ground however on closer inspection you could see that there were imprints on the bar showing that he had actually bent the metal as he was clutching it to hard. As he landed he suddenly released a angry shout and punched the wall that was close by causing a spider web of cracks to appear on the wall. Naruto then leaned on the wall as he slid down it to calm himself down however he suddenly felt something wet on his arms he looked at he saw that it was falling from his face at first he thought that it was sweat but he quickly realized that it was something different.

"I'm crying…" he said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He then looked at the tears on his hand. "Why am I crying?"

 **Location:** **Litchfield Country** **, August 3; 20:08 EDT**

In a little open field near the town of Litchfield, we find scientists in biohazard suits, labeled prominently with a S.T.A.R. Labs logo on their backs, as they loaded pieces of the android on to the two trucks chosen to transport the cargo, while four other trucks were standing by. Off to the side, you could see Superman observing something behind a foliage of trees and bushes. At first, it appeared that it was nothing, but upon closer inspection, you could see what Superman was looking at with his Super-vision.

Behind the trees were the gathered members of the Young Justice team in their civilian gear, mounted on the bikes that had been provided for them for the mission, waiting for the signal to provide covert support for the truck if needed.

Suddenly, two of the veteran heroes spoke up.

"S.T.A.R. _Boston_ is a GO," said the Flash as he saw the armored soldiers close up the truck with the cargo.

"S.T.A.R. _Manhattan_ is GO," continued the Green Arrow as he watched another truck turn onto the road. Superman then nodded to Batman, who gave the signal for the teams to move out. As the members of the Justice League watched the teams leave, they all started to return home, but just as Superman was about to take off, Batman put hand on his shoulder.

"I told you, we need to talk," said the Dark Knight in a serious tone that suggested there was no alternative route that could be taken. Superman released a small sigh before nodding.

Once on the road, the teams split up, with Kid Flash, Aqualad and Miss Martian going after the Boston one while Robin and Superboy followed the one that went towards Manhattan. As they drove along the road, Robin got bored and decided to chat with his fellow teammate.

"If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right," he asked while explaining his points on the matter. However, he quickly saw that Superboy was not in the mood for his questions, so he decided on a different approach. "Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster…What's wrong?"

This made Superboy release a small sigh before he looked at Robin for a moment and then focused back on the road. "Canary - what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?" he said as he let some of his pent up anger slip for a moment, though it was quickly put back under check.

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig," said Robin as he came to Canary's defense. "Canary learned that the hard way, same with Batman and, well, me."

This didn't sit well with Superboy, as it needled a chink in the armor he had put around himself. It showed that he may have been wrong, and he didn't like that.

While this was happening, the other part of the team was having a similar conversation about the boy of steel.

"Do you think Superboy's OK? I wasn't reading his mind, I swear, but anger's flowing off him in waves," asked a worried M'gann as she looked for some comfort in the members of the team. 

"Heh, surfed that wave," said Kid Flash as he moved next to M'gann's own bike. "Just give him space." Just as he was starting to show some maturity, it was gone again, and he was back to his old ways. "Me? Stick as close as you want."

Both M'gann and Kaldur rolled their eyes. Aqualad then moved closer to the rest of his team as he looked at the Martian. "Superboy just needs time to cool off. A quiet mission will clear his head," he said as he gave a small smile to M'gann to ease her worries. M'gann returned the gesture, her faith restored that everything would be fine. However, something came into her mind that she had kept in the back of her thoughts since earlier that day. She decide to voice her concerns.

"Um, another thing that's bothering me - Naruto is not with us on this mission…why is that?"

"Well, the big guy has his own way of doing things so I guess he just didn't want to go on this sweet road trip," said Kid Flash, not really caring what Naruto was doing as long as the guy had their backs and would help when needed.

"What Kid is trying to say is that Naruto has his own personal demons that he needs to expel on his own, and we are unable to help him until he asks for our help in the matter," spoke Aqualad as he gave his own input on the matter so that M'gann could focus on the task at hand. However, M'gann could not let it rest. The way Naruto reacted earlier had shocked her, being so far different from the cool-headed Naruto she was used to.

"But what happened with Black Canary was completely different then his usual behavior! He looked more like a man that would kill anyone that got in his way than the hero we know him as," she said, and a look of fear appeared on her face as she remembered how Naruto had acted towards their teacher. Her attention was once again brought upon Aqualad, who released a sigh and then looked at the young Martian.

"I know that he may seem different form the normal Naruto you know, but as I said, he has his demons that show themselves at the most unexpected times. The interaction between Canary and Naruto was one when one of them decided to show itself," he said plainly, his gaze going unfocused for a moment as he remembered the time he met Naruto, and where they had met. "Naruto is very complex, and does not trust people, so when Canary showed her concern, he reacted the only way he knew how to…with anger, but I believe that deep down he was sorry for that." Aqualad finished and left no room for argument.

The road led the trucks through a region cornfields, where the tall green stalks reached out toward the horizon on both sides, making it look like they were a convoy of ships sailing a straight line across an ocean of corn. As the team drove along, they did not notice the corn fields starting to move a little, as suddenly metallic monkeys with glowing green parts all over their bodies jumped out of the fields and flew towards the trucks.

They latched onto the vehicles and started to cut holes into the trucks with the help of the lasers inside there eyes. The team wasted no time and they went in to action to protect the cargo they were transporting. Kid Flash and Miss Martian abandoned their vehicles in favor of there powers, while Aqualad radioed Robin.

"Robin, Superboy, our truck!"

Robin cut him off. " _ **Yeah, I kind of figured**_." The Boy Wonder ducked a swipe from one of the monkeys, then tripped up another with his two batons, sending it sprawling on its back.

Superboy was atop the other truck, smashing monkeys left and right. One of them managed to get onto his back, firing a laser into the back of his skull, trying to drill a hole right through his brain. It only served to get Superboy madder, and he grabbed the monkey and threw it onto the top of the truck, stomping on the creature's head with a booted foot, crushing it.

"I hate monkeys," he snarled as he continued to battle what seemed endless waves of the robotic monstrosities.

 **Location: Mount Justice, August 3; 20:15 EDT**

In the training room of the secret base of the Young Justice team, we find the young blond hero in the same position as we previously saw him. But one thing _had_ changed - he was now clutching his head, and even tears fell from his eyes.

Naruto could not do anything, petrified by the suppressed fear, anger and sorrow he had been bottling up ever since he had been taken from the most precious person in his entire world. His hands shook as he saw images flash before his eyes. He could see bright lights, as well as a shadowy figure coming towards him, holding some sort of needle he could not see clearly. He could feel phantom pains of the needle piercing his neck, and then the image faded to black, but just as he thought that it was all over it got worse…much worse.

The images that started to appear - he saw himself being strapped to a table, desperately tried to escape, but it was all in vain. Where was his strength? His bonds didn't look anywhere near strong enough to bind him, but no mater how hard he struggled, they refused to move even slightly.

A man walked towards him, a shadow holding the gleam of a small surgical knife held in his hand and a sinister look in his eyes. The man spoke.

" _Hello, boy, I see you're strapped in for the ride…Ha ha ha!"_ The man laughed madly as he glided along the floor towards Naruto, the knife pointed towards the boy's chest. Naruto could feel the pain as if they were happening in the present, not a ghost or a memory but the actual moment repeating itself forever.

He told himself it was not real. It didn't help, he still couldn't get the painful memories to go away. He started to clutching his head even harder, his fingers dug into the thin skin that was covering his head as he desperately try to make the images go away. Could he dig the memories out of his brain with his bare hands?

He got on to his knees and started to bash his head against the hard concrete floor, hoping that it would produce one of two affects. It would either knock him out, or it would make the memories go away by way of concussion-induced amnesia, but that was just hopeful thinking.

He continued to bash his head against the floor, screaming at the same time, somehow managing not to bite his own tongue off in the process. Now he was kneeling in a small pool of blood, and his head made wet, splashing noises on each impact.

A small figure appeared at the entrance of the gym. Upon closer inspection, you could see that it was in fact the G-elf that had escaped the Cadmus facility along with Naruto. He slowly moved towards the screaming boy and pressed a specific spot on the blond's head, and suddenly, no sound came from Naruto, even though he still had his mouth wide open and you could clearly see the anguish written all over his face.

The G-elf pressed another pressure point, preventing Naruto from hurting himself by shutting down his body and allowing the boy to slip into unconsciousness. The G-elf then dragged Naruto slowly onto a bench press, where he helped him lie down, and then patiently waited for him to awaken.

Quite some time passed before Naruto's eyes slowly started to flutter open, and his vision adjusted once more to the bright overhead lights. As his eyes fully opened, he suddenly remembered what happened, and he shot up and looked around frantically for any sings of danger, but once he found none, he calmed down.

He felt pressure on his right shoulder, and he turned his head to the side and saw his oldest friend, and the only one he truly trusted. He then saw the horns on his friend's head glow as he sent a mental message to Naruto to get him up to speed at what was happening during the time he had one of his episodes.

Everything seemed OK at first, but then he ran in to one piece of information that had him worried. He quickly stood up and ran to the nearest terminal, then activated the program that helped him monitor the team's radio, and what he heard once played back was worth him worrying.

" _ **We've lost our cargo**_." Came the voice of the leader Aqualad. " _ **Did you**_ -"

He tried to continue however he was interrupted by another voice that belonged to Robin. " _ **It's gone…And so is my partner**_."

As Naruto continued to listen, he heard that Superboy had gone rogue and that he, Robin and Kid Flash were currently in Gotham, more precisely Gotham High. Once Naruto got this information, he quickly ran towards the hangars where all the vehicles were stored, his little friend following close behind.

Naruto quickly jumped on his bike and revved it as the G-elf took his place on the boy's back. They then sped of towards Gotham to assist the young heroes.

 **Location: Gotham, August 3; 21:21 EDT**

In the gymnasium of the Gotham high school, there was a fierce battle going on as three young heroes tried to stop the creations of Professor Ivo, with little success.

Superboy was currently trying to get a solid hit on the android, but was unable to do so as Amazo kept on using the Martian Manhunter density shifting to let the fist fly right through him. This lead to Superboy getting more and more frustrated, and he was swinging more wildly by the minute, while the android kept on evading his blows. This pattern came to an abrupt end as Amazo went on the offensive, and, landing a devastating blow to the young clone, sent Superboy flying into the bleachers, sending part of the wood into the air before burying the boy under the rubble.

Kid Flash and Robin were about to charge in to help their friend, but the android beat them to it as he charged at the two young heroes, and with quick use of his copies of the young heroes' older counterparts, defeated the two young heroes.

Amazo then slowly made his way to the downed Superboy to finish the task he had been given. He grabbed the young hero by the neck and began to squeeze the life out of him. Then, he was interrupted by his sonic sensors alerting him to a distinctive sound of a heavily Dopplered projectile, heading towards his head.

Amazo quickly activated the density shift ability and avoided the projectile. He saw that it was an arrow with a distinctive green tint to it. What Amazo had not realized was that he had let go of Superboy, but he quickly realized his mistake and was it about remedy it when he was again interrupted by the sound of screeching along the tilled floor of the school hallway. All the occupant of the gymnasium turned towards the giant hole that had been knocked in the wall by Superboy and Amazo earlieer in their fight, and watched as a shining light started to be seen through the hole…

It got brighter and brighter as the sounds started to get louder and louder. The suspense was practically killing them as they held their to see what would emerge from the hole. Finally, they got what they wanted as a motorcycle flew through the hole and went straight for Amazo, who did not care for it and simply made himself intangible and allowed the bike to fly straight through him.

As they all looked at the bike, they saw that it had no driver on it or even near it. The question of who was driving the bike was quickly answered when something crashed atop the android, who had already de-cloaked, so to speak, and sent him crashing it the far wall of the gymnasium, where he made a large dent.

As the smoke cleared, the young heroes could see a very familiar plated face with blue eyes. The figure spoke up, while a small amount of smoke escaped his mouth.

"Do I really have to save your asses every time… It's getting really annoying…" said Naruto as he scratched the back of his head, momentarily closing his eyes. Then, his attention was diverted to the arrogant laughter of a short man with orange hair which, while looking cool, made Naruto feel like his favorite color was being perverted in so many ways.

"Bravo, bravo! For a simple Superman rip-off, I must say you are the first person from these young heroes to actually get a strike in at my Amazing Amazo! However, it seems you are nothing more that another armored brute, and thus I have no further interest you! I shall now allow Amazo to finish his job, and then I shall be on my way!" said professor Ivo as he had an arrogant smile plastered on his face.

Naruto's reaction was different from what the professor had expected. The target was supposed to get angry and fall in to a deep rage that would allow him to slip away while Amazo finished off the young heroes. However, he merely received a look of indifference from the young armored hero, who then turned around to look at the young clone, offering an armor-plated hand to help him up, which the clone accepted, though a bit begrudgingly. Once on his feet, he looked at Naruto, who addressed him.

"Superboy, could you use your temper for something more productive so that I can go finish off the little toy robot that the dwarf built?." This got different reactions from the people gathered in the room. Kid Flash started to laugh, while Robin snickered and Superboy just smiled as he remembered the words of Black Canary, telling him to use his anger to his advantage.

Ivo, however, was less impressed by the young man's encouraging words. He could pick up on the not even remotely subtle jabs at his expense. This angered him enough to react a bit out of character.

"Amazo, attack the armored fool! Priority ALPHA!" he shouted as Amazo got off of the wall and ran towards the young hero. Naruto leapt forward, eager to meet the android head-on at full speed. As the distance between them disappeared and a crash seemed inevitable, Amazo went for an, overhand strike, but Naruto saw it and maneuvered around the blow and struck Amazo in his stomach.

What suppressed everyone was that Naruto actually picked up the android and carried him towards one of the walls while Amazo tired to break free by attacking Naruto's back, all in vain. As they reached the wall, Naruto picked up speed and smashed through the wall, then quickly moved away from the prone form of the android and awaited for it to stand up once more.

He did not have to wait long, as Amazo rose with out a scratch on him. Seeing this Naruto saw only one option to end this. He closed his eyes, and suddenly, a large amount of smoke was released from his body and once it cleared, in Naruto's place stood a creature fifteen meters tall, staring down upon the small figure that was Amazo with baleful eyes. The android looked upon the large creature, unmoved.

"New power detected…adaptation system system activating…reconstructing body to feed the needs of the new power…" The android started to grow bigger until he was the exact same height as the Titan.

Once Naruto saw this, he released a deafening roar and got into a basic kickboxing stance. He waited for the android to attack, and wasn't disappointed as Amazo charged at him with wide strikes that showed that he was more a savage monster then a sophisticated machine.

Naruto easily bypassed the wide swing and stared to deliver devastating blows to the android. He first released a powerful low kick to the Androids knees, breaking them in the process, and then quickly grabbing Amazo's right arm, broke it at the elbow before doing the same to the other one, the sounds sickeningly loud and wet in the gym's hall.

While this was going on, Amazo tried desperately to activate his other abilities, but found he was unable to speak in this form, was not able to activate the voice commands needed to get those powers to work.

Thus, he was a sitting duck while Naruto continued to manhandle him, throwing the android into several old abandoned buildings that surrounded Gotham. By the end of the one man throwing competition, Amazo was badly damaged, and was unable to get back up.

Naruto stood over the defeated android and decided to finish this farce of a mission. He grabbed Amazos body by the head while putting his right foot on the androids chest. Then, with one mighty tug, he ripped the giant machine's head off, or so it initially appeared. Inside however you could still see the intact body of the original android showing that the other one had been nothing more then a shell.

Naruto then reached inside and grabbed a hold of the android before he ripped him out. Once this was done, Naruto look upon the machine, and before the android could do anything, he crushed it between his palms, leaving only remains once more. The titan then simply dropped the pieces and stomped on them once more for good measure, before reverting back to his original form.

Just as he reverted back, the other three young heroes ran towards him to help if needed. However, once they reached him, they saw the destruction and the broken parts of the android that were scattered in the wake of the battle. Robin was the first to speak up.

"What happened here? It looks like a tornado blew past here," said Robin, his concern clearly shown in his voice. Naruto did not react, but simply looked at the surrounding devastation before looking at Robin once more.

"Nothing happened. Amazo simply copied my titan form, and we fought," he said as if it was not a big deal. Robin did not see it that way.

"What do you mean, _nothing happened_? Do you see the same thing I see, or is it something different, because this is not NOTHING!" said Robin, raising his voice at the end. "People could have gotten hurt because you were reckless and weren't thinking!" continued Robin as he now expressed his fury in the form of shouting his lungs out. Naruto just ignored him and did not seem to care.

Robin would have continued, but he was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps quickly approaching. The heroes present turned towards the sounds and saw that it was Aqualad, followed by a floating M'gann. Once they reached them, Aqualad looked at the gathered heroes with an analyzing look on his face. He then released a sigh and spoke.

"What is the situation, what happened here?" Seeing that no one was in a talkative mood, Kid Flash decided to speak up.

"We engaged Amazo, and were having a difficult time subduing him because he used the powers he stole from JL, and was using them to counter our every move. The android was about to finish us off when Naruto showed up and saved usm but I think that I could have taken him on, it's just that he got the drop on me." Kid Flash realized toward the end that he needed to defend his honor, and to save some face in front of M'gann.

Instead of paying him any attention, the young alien tended to the young Superman clone.

Aqualad understood now what happened, and saw that Robin was not happy with how Sentinel had handled the android, if the narrowed eyes that were trying bore holes in the back of Naruto's skull were anything to go by, and while that would be an okay reaction, seeing that it was Robin's city that had just had to endure a rampage by a Titan, it would seem that Robin could not leave it alone.

"Ya, he saved us, but put the rest of the city in danger in the process…" muttered Robin as he vented some of his frustrations out, which all the others present understood – however, it was the final line that broke the camels back.

"Some hero he is…"

This one line, while meaningless to some, was a harsh blow to young aspiring heroes, or even to some of the veterans. While not really bad if it came from a news team, it could be devastating if you heard it from another hero. Thus, it was no shock to the team when Naruto appeared in front of Robin and punched him in the jaw, which in turn sent him to the floor, where he laid holding his slowly bruising jaw.

Robin looked up and what he saw was honestly saw a beast appear behind Naruto, roaring at him, and while Naruto's body was hidden in shadows, the only thing you were able to see was his bright blue, ice cold eyes.

Robin was brought out of his shock by Naruto's venomous voice.

"You don't get to talk about my hero work and how I handle the situation… I knew that there might be people in some buildings, so that's why I steered the fight towards the abandoned buildings and only them, so don't judge me based on faulty data…" He moved away, towards the school and his bike that was waiting on its kickstand. Before he left, he stopped and looked at Robin over his shoulder.

"You were right about one thing - I'm no hero." With that said, he turned around and left, leaving behind a shocked team.

The first to break out of their shock was M'gann, who quickly flew towards the school, followed by the rest of the team not far behind. As she reached the school, she saw that Naruto was already on his bike, with the small G-elf on his shoulder. Naruto was just about to kick-start the engine, when his hand on the handlebar was stopped by another, greener one.

He looked up and saw a concerned face of M'gann. He sighed and looked at her with a calm look.

"Let go, M'gann, please." he said quietly, in a voice that betrayed little of what he was really feeling. However the young Martian would not back down this time.

"No, Naruto I will not. You're hurt and I - we just want to help you…You just have to let us in, _please_ ," she said with a soft tone at the end, trying to get her friend to open up to her, that was to say, _them,_ that's what she meant, _them_ …the team, yes, that was what she meant. However, it did little to sway Naruto, who quickly ripped his hand free from her grasp and simply turned the engine on and started to move forward towards the hole in the wall he had made earlier.

However just before he said something sow that only M'gann could hear. "I'm sorry, I just can't. Not now."

His red taillight disappeared into the night.

 **Location: Justice League space station, August 3; 22:21 EDT**

Inside the space station, we find the founding members of the Justice League, sitting around the round table looking at a recording of a security camera that had been taken earlier that day in Washington DC. It showed a teenage boy mercilessly beating on a known criminal. The video paused when the teen looked at the camera filming him, the frozen frame revealing that his face was covered by some sort of organic plate.

The first to speak was Wonder Woman, as this footage was taken in the city that was under her protection.

"This was taken earlier today at 13:59, and shows someone we know to be attacking a man and not stopping even when he was down so we can conclude that he was searching for something, but what?" She finished and looked around for any ideas around the room.

"He was searching for his mother," came the calm voice of Batman, who was analyzing everything that he had just saw.

"And how exactly do you know that, Bats? Last I checked, there's no audio on this thing, and the kid's mouth is covered by that scarf," spoke up Flash as he looked at the Dark Knight.

"It's the only logical solution. He was using the computers at the mountain to search for her, and the last hit on that computer was Deadshot, though the data was sketchy at best. However, I believe that he was willing to take a risk," he said as he crossed his hands over his chest and then looked at the rest of the gathered heroes. "That is not the issue. We have a bigger problem at hand - he is reckless and a loose cannon. It could endanger the rest of the team while on missions. Thus, my question to you all is, what should we do with him…"

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED**_

 **Okay, done! What will happen to Naruto now that JL knows about his little stunt, is there tension rising amongst the team of young heroes, and what other tensions are developing…? Tune in next time to find out.**

 **R &R **

**Till next** **time** **year!** **.**

(editor's note: The delay on this chapter coming out is entirely my fault, not Holiday being lazy or anything like that. Although you could say he is too lazy to get himself a faster beta reader than me.

Or maybe he's just that loyal? Nah, let's go with lazy. -Axiomatic)


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